The Bush administration said Friday it will allow developers to complete construction and other projects even after belated discoveries that the work could endanger protected species.
The new rules from the Interior Department's Fish and Wildlife Service restore a Clinton-era initiative known as "no surprises." It will let federal agencies give blanket assurances to home builders, timber and mining companies and other developers that they won't have unforeseen requirements to protect rare species once a project has begun.
A federal judge had blocked the rules last June, telling the government it needed to hear more ideas from the public about the changes. The administration gathered the extra comment and moved ahead Friday in a victory for business over environmentalists....
Six groups led by California-based Spirit of the Sage Council, which represents some American Indians and environmentalists, had challenged the rules from the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service, which enforce the Endangered Species Act.
Eric Glitzenstein, a Washington-based lawyer for the groups, said the rules remain "a legally and scientifically bankrupt policy that can only drive species closer to extinction."
--John Heilprin, "