Tuesday - March 03, 2009

Just Like He Said He Would

In a move that will subject an number of government projects to enhanced environmental and scientific scrutiny, President Obama is restoring a requirement that U.S. agencies consult with independent federal experts to determine whether their actions might harm threatened and endangered species.

The presidential memorandum issued yesterday, which marks yet another reversal of President Bush’s environmental legacy, will revive a decades-old practice under the Endangered Species Act that calls for agencies to consult with either the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on whether their projects could affect imperiled species.

Earthjustice lawyer Jeanette Brimmer, whose law firm had challenging the Bush rule in federal district court in California, said she expected the new administration would reexamine two pending projects: a Bureau of Land Management plan for overseeing Oregon’s forests, which was finalized on Dec. 30 and could affect protected species such as the northern spotted owl; and construction of the White Pine coal-fired power plant in Nevada.

Bill Kovacs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s vice president of environment, technology and regulatory affairs, said reviving another layer of review “will result in even greater delays to projects—including stimulus-backed, job-creating projects—as agencies now grapple with the prospect of lengthy inter-agency consultations to determine, for instance, if a bridge project in Florida contributes to the melting of Arctic ice. This is such a departure from the spirit and the letter of the Endangered Species Act that we wonder if the law’s drafters would even recognize it today.”

Posted by Drew458     on 03/03/2009 at 05:24 PM   
Filed Under: • Environment • Obama, The One • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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