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News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Bush Trying Last-Minute Changes to Endangered Species Act
The Bush administration is proposing major changes to the Endangered Species Act that would sideline government experts and allow development projects to proceed unchecked, all at the expense of endangered plants, animals, and other organisms. The Washington Post reports:
The new rules, which will be subject to a 30-day comment period, would use administrative powers to make broad changes in the law that Congress has resisted for years. Under current law, agencies must subject any plans that potentially affect endangered animals and plants to an independent review by the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service. Under the proposed new rules, dam and highway construction and other federal projects could proceed without delay if the agency in charge decides they would not harm vulnerable species.
The proposal would give extraordinary control of biological health decisions to officials whose primary responsibilities include infrastructure creation, minerals extraction, or logging.
For example, take the Minerals Management Service whose mission is to "manage the ocean energy and mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf and Federal and Indian mineral revenues to enhance public and trust benefits, promote responsible use, and realize fair value." If an official is considering a project that would yield huge energy benefits and please MMS higher-ups but would also decimate one or more endangered species and violate the law, what's a bureaucrat to do? Talk about a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
The proposal fits in with the Bush administration's record, or lack thereof, on enforcing the Endangered Species Act. A March investigation by the Post found that Bush had listed only 59 species under the act. Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush listed 231 species in only four years as president. President Bill Clinton listed 521 species in eight years.
If finalized before Bush leaves office in January, the rule would also violate a new White House policy intended to slow the usual proliferation of rules that occurs at the end of an administration, often called midnight regulations. On May 9, White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten issued a memo telling regulatory agencies that "regulations to be finalized in this Administration should be proposed no later than June 1, 2008."
The proposed rule wasn't announced until yesterday, and has yet to be officially published in the Federal Register. Of course, the Bolten memo isn't binding, nor does it carry any legal consequence.
The Bush administration is applying the memo selectively, using it to delay policies that might expand protections for public health, workers, or the environment and ignoring it when it finds a new opportunity to cement an anti-regulatory legacy. The proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act — which could lead to environmentally damaging, scientifically uniformed decisions in a future administration — is a perfect example.
(Another rule that would change the way the Department of Labor studies the toxic substances workers are exposed to is equally sneaky. A Health and Human Services rule that may make it harder for women to receive birth control provides yet another example.)
The proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act will be open to public comment once published in the Federal Register. But the 30-day comment period indicates the administration is trying to hustle this rule through before it leaves office. (60 days is the norm for a comment period on a proposed rule.) Stay tuned to Reg•Watch for updates.
Posted by Matt Madia
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