Other Issues In the News

Federal agencies would be able to decide for themselves whether protected species would be imperiled by projects, bypassing scientific review.

By Juliet Eilperin
THE WASHINGTON POST
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration on Monday proposed a regulatory overhaul of the Endangered Species Act to allow federal agencies to decide for themselves whether protected species would be imperiled by agency projects, eliminating the independent scientific reviews that have been required for more than three decades.

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.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne described the rules as a "narrow regulatory change" that "will provide clarity and certainty to the consultation process under the Endangered Species Act."

But environmentalists and congressional Democrats blasted the proposal as a last-minute attempt by the administration to bring about dramatic changes in the law. For more than a decade, congressional Republicans have been trying unsuccessfully to rewrite the act, which property owners and developers say imposes unreasonable economic costs.

"I am deeply troubled by this proposed rule, which gives federal agencies an unacceptable degree of discretion to decide whether or not to comply with the Endangered Species Act," said Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. "This is not the type of legacy this Interior Department should be leaving for future generations."

Bob Irvin of the advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife questioned how some agencies could make the assessments because most do not have wildlife biologists on staff.

"Clearly, that's a case of asking the fox to guard the chicken coop," Irvin said, adding that the original law created "a giant caution light that made federal agencies stop and think about the impacts of their actions. What the Bush administration is telling those agencies is they don't have to think about those impacts anymore."

However, Dale Hall, who directs the Fish and Wildlife Service, said the move would not apply to major federal projects and would give his agency more time to focus on the most critically endangered species, rather than conducting reviews of projects that pose little threat.

"We have to have the ability to put our efforts where they're needed," Hall said, adding that agencies will have to take responsibility if their projects do harm a species. "This really says to the agencies, 'This law belongs to all of us. You're responsible to defend it.' "

The new rules would also limit the impact of the administration's decision in May to list the polar bear as threatened with extinction because of shrinking sea ice.

Kempthorne said the new regulations included language "so we don't inadvertently have the Endangered Species Act seen as a back door to climate change policy that was never, ever intended."

Several endangered species, including the Texas blind salamander and the golden-cheeked warbler, take up habitat in Central Texas.

With the growth of suburban development around Austin over the past 25 years, the fate of these species has increasingly become a rallying point for environmental groups.

Groups that lobby on behalf of endangered species say it's too early to divine the precise implications of the changes on Central Texas, but they said the changes could have profound effects on land use and the animals' health.

"In the vast majority of cases, which take place outside the public eye, this will mean significantly less protection for endangered species," said Bill Bunch, the executive director of the environmental group Save Our Springs Alliance.

The changes will "let bureaucrats make decisions about species' future instead of scientists," said Luke Metzger, the head of Environment Texas.

Additional material from staff writer Asher Price.