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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced today that the Obama administration will reverse an Endangered Species Act (ESA) regulation that allowed federal agencies to go ahead with actions that may impact endangered species without consulting with experts, essentially circumventing the role of conservation scientists in such decisions.
“By rolling back this eleventh-hour regulation, we are ensuring that threatened and endangered species continue to receive the full protection of the law” said Salazar.
The change to the ESA was made last December by the Bush administration and drew heavy criticism from environmental and conservation groups. At the time, during heavy campaigning, Obama stated that he opposed the last minute rule changes with a spokesman stating: “As president, Senator Obama will fight to maintain the strong protections of the Endangered Species Act and undo this proposal from President Bush.”
Darin Schroeder, Vice President for Conservation Advocacy at the environmental organization, American Bird Conservancy, agreed with Salazar’s decision. “We are gratified Secretary Salazar and Secretary Locke acted to restore the Endangered Species Act to its intended strength. The consultation process is one of the cornerstones of the ESA, and one of the key checks and balances that ensures protection for the 90 birds and 1,263 other animals and plants it covers.”
Another anticipated ruling regarding polar bears has not been announced yet. While the Bush administration found that melting ice in the Arctic due to climate change was endangering polar bears, they ruled that the ESA could not used to regulate carbon emissions in order to protect the polar bear. Salazar must make a judgment on this rule by May 9th.
“Secretary Salazar took an important step today toward restoring needed protections for endangered species,” said Noah Greenwald, biodiversity program director for the Center for Biological Diversity. “But he still needs to rescind the special rule for the polar bear, which amounts to a death sentence for the majestic bear because it exempts greenhouse gas emissions from regulation.”
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