Obama renews protection for endangered species

Yahoo News 4 Mar 09;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama on Tuesday restored rules aimed at saving endangered species from harm by government projects, in his latest move to undo Bush-era laws seen as damaging to the environment.

"The work of scientists and experts in my administration... will be respected," Obama said, announcing all government departments would now be consulted on projects which may affect endangered species.

"For more than three decades, the Endangered Species Act has successfully protected our nation's most threatened wildlife. We should be looking for ways to improve it, not weaken it," Obama said.

Late last year, the Bush administration changed rules under the Endangered Species Act to allow government projects to go ahead without an independent review by the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Critics, among them environmental groups, warned the move could result in further harm to already endangered species and welcomed Obama's executive order.

"The Bush rules would have allowed agencies with little or no wildlife expertise to make decisions that could mean life or death for animals like the polar bear," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, a conservation group.

"When it comes to protecting wildlife, we should listen to the scientists who spend their lives studying these animals.

"Our wildlife are clearly in much better hands now. President Obama is bringing science back into decision-making."

Obama also demanded a review of the laws issued in the waning days of the administration of president George W. Bush.

"Until such review is completed, I request the heads of all agencies to exercise their discretion, under the new regulation, to follow the prior longstanding consultation and concurrence practices," Obama said in a memorandum.

It was yet another reversal of a Bush-era policy, as the Obama administration seeks to fulfill a campaign pledge to protect the environment.

In early February, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar ordered the Bureau of Land Management not to accept bids by energy companies on 77 parcels of Utah wilderness.

The lands involved sit "at the doorstep of some of our nation's most treasured landscapes in Utah," Salazar said, referring to the Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Parks, Dinosaur National Monument and Nine Mile Canyon.

The move was hailed by US environmentalists including actor Robert Redford, who had fought the Bush administration's rush to sell off the land in its final days.

Bush had widely pressed Congress to lift bans on offshore oil prospecting and backed moves to allow oil exploration in wilderness areas including Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Salazar then also moved away from "drill-only" energy policies as he blocked what he called a "midnight action" by the Bush administration to push through the sale of offshore leases to gas and oil companies.

"On January 16, the last business day of the Bush administration, the administration proposed a new five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing," Salazar said on February 10.

It would have brought forward from 2012 to 2010 the creation of a new energy development plan that would affect some 300 million offshore acres (121 million hectares) on the outer continental shelf, from the US eastern seaboard to the Pacific Ocean off California, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Alaska.

"We need to set aside the Bush administration's midnight timetable for the plan," Salazar said, ordering a six-month extension for the public hearings that put the deadline back from March to September.

Obama rolls back Bush rules on endangered species
Jeff Mason, PlanetArk 5 Mar 09;

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Tuesday directed U.S. government agencies to consult with scientists before taking action that could harm endangered species, rolling back last-minute rules put forward by former President George W. Bush.

Obama, a Democrat who has spent much of his first six weeks in office undoing policies of his Republican predecessor, signed a memo urging agencies such as the Department of Transportation to consult with government scientists before pursuing projects that could hurt threatened animals.

The Bush administration had proposed to let those agencies decide on their own whether their activities, such as building highways and dams, posted such a threat.

Obama took a shot at his predecessor when announcing the move during a visit with employees at the Department of the Interior earlier in the day.

"Today I've signed a memorandum that will help restore the scientific process to its rightful place at the heart of the Endangered Species Act, a process undermined by past administrations," Obama said to applause.

"The work of scientists and experts in my administration ... will be respected. For more than three decades, the Endangered Species Act has successfully protected our nation's most threatened wildlife, and we should be looking for ways to improve it -- not weaken it."

Bush, who battled with environmentalists for years over his polices on climate change and other issues, drew further criticism at the end of his term for issuing "midnight regulations" that were viewed as ecologically unfriendly.

His changes to the Endangered Species Act were just one of a handful or such moves.

Environmental activists praised Obama's shift on Tuesday.

"Today's announcement marks the unequivocal return of science to the agencies that govern our fish, wildlife, and natural resources," said Carl Pope, executive director of environmental group Sierra Club.

"The Bush rules would have allowed agencies with little or no wildlife expertise to make decisions that could mean life or death for animals like the polar bear. When it comes to protecting wildlife, we should listen to the scientists who spend their lives studying these animals."

Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts, who chairs a Congressional committee on energy independence and global warming, also welcomed the move.

"Today proves that, under an Obama administration, scientists are no longer an endangered species," he said in a statement.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)