Administration Should Drop Misguided ESA Proposal
August 14, 2008
The Interior Department’s proposal to weaken the Endangered Species Act’s scientific consultation requirement is yet another ill-advised attempt to undermine a landmark conservation law that protects America’s wildlife heritage, Republicans for Environmental Protection, a national grassroots organization, said today.
“This proposal would gravely undermine a central pillar of the Endangered Species Act – that objective science, not political agendas, should guide the recovery of America’s threatened and endangered wildlife,” REP Government Affairs Director David Jenkins said.
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires federal agencies to consult with government scientists to determine whether a proposed project or federal permit for a private project would jeopardize wildlife listed as threatened or endangered.
“The Bush Administration is apparently, once again, siding with parochial special interests to the detriment of the broader public good,” Jenkins said. “This irresponsible proposal is based on the myth that independent scientific review causes undue burden on landowners and needlessly delays development. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
The Interior Department’s proposed regulation would allow federal agencies to bypass the consultation requirement if they think that their actions would not jeopardize listed species.
“Checks and balances against politically influenced decisions are essential to effective environmental law, ” added REP Policy Director Jim DiPeso. “Drivers don’t get to decide whether they’re complying with the speed limit, banks don’t get to examine their own books, and federal agencies shouldn’t be allowed to determine for themselves whether they’re obeying the Endangered Species Act.”
“The Interior Department is abdicating its responsibility to enforce the law. We call on Secretary Kempthorne to drop this misguided idea and continue full enforcement of the Endangered Species Act as it is written,” DiPeso said.
