All but toughened conservationists and tree-huggers may have missed this story as it broke at midweek — amidst the din of corruption- and sleaze-related stories siphoning forth from inside the Washington, D.C. Beltway.
Here’s the deal, though. My friend, author Scott Weidensaul, calls it “an extremely disturbing story” and it’s all about an end-run the administration is attempting around the Endangered Species Act — essentially gutting it by reinterpreting it from within, instead of re-legislating it through the Congress.
Weidensaul: “The proposal would, among other things, set biologically nonsensical time limits on protection, eliminate any way to stop federal projects like dams or logging even if scientific evidence shows they may drive a species to extinction, and define a species’ range to mean only the land it now occupies — thus eliminating any chance for reintroductions like those that have benefited peregrine falcons and gray wolves, to name just two.”
The Los Angeles Times has one of the better reviews of this sneaky move that broke into the media thanks to a leaker. And it all brings to mind former Congressman Richard Pombo’s legislative attempts at gutting the Endangered Species Act. Now we have George W. Bush, son of Pombo.
March 28, 2007 at 8:16 pm |
“Son of Pombo”… I think that’s an apt description.
The Bush admin will do whatever it can to weaken these laws before the next presidential election.
I was hoping this incredibly low polling prez would do a 180 and try and create some sort of positive wildlands legacy rather than being regarded as the worst president in U.S. history.
I guess not.
March 28, 2007 at 9:07 pm |
Mike, I think many of us shared that sense following the mid-term election. But the evidence says the Bush wrecking crew just doesn’t get it. Consider the president’s “signing statements,” those articles of mumbo jumbo he issues upon signing legislation in which he declares he won’t enforce the very law he just inked into the U.S. Code.
April 1, 2007 at 6:13 pm |
If you think James Watt was a total putz under President Regan just wait till the biggest a** kisser of all time kempthorne gets rolling.