Proof Elections Matter: Obama to Restore Endangered Species Protections
Yet one more Bushite move to despoil the environment has been turned back. A memorandum issued in the waning days of the Bush Administration has been rendered inoperative.
In December 2008, the Bush administration changed a longstanding practice under the Endangered Species Act by issuing rules that allowed agencies to move ahead with projects and programs without seeking an independent review by either the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Environmentalists and scientists said this shift could allow agencies to press ahead with plans that could hurt already-vulnerable species across the country.
As one might expect, the move to reverse this policy has been hailed by environmentalists:
Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said the memorandum would have a tremendous impact.
“Endangered species are breathing a deep sigh of relief today,” Suckling said. “The consultation process is the heart of the Endangered Species Act power. By reversing Bush’s attempt to deregulate the consultation process, Obama restored oversight and balance and has given endangered species a good fighting chance of survival.”
El Somnambulo cannot overstate just how much disaster has been averted and reversed in just the first few weeks of the Obama Administration.
Elections matter indeed.
And as Rush takes center stage… serious work is being done.
They’ve been pretty clearly looking over the last of the rules and Exec Orders and rolling them back pretty smartly. And doing it with very little R pushback. Which is interesting since the R strategy for pushback seems to be getting as many of them as possible in front of every camera and microphone as possible every single day. But they don’t even talk about stuff like this much.
Just watched BHO speech at Interior whilst at the gym. He mentioned this to great applause. I wish this announcement came before the CPAC convention so Rush and Coulter could have told everyone how digging animals and the environment was gay. Then as an encore Wayne LaPierre could have shot something. You know LaPierre sounds very French to me…