Obama administration revokes Bush rule

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Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke announced April 28 that their departments are revoking an Endangered Species Act regulation change published in December, in the final months of the Bush administration.

The regulation change had given federal agencies a stronger role in determining when they had to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding agency actions that might affect an endangered species. When in 2008 the Interior and Commerce departments proposed the regulation changes they said that they were clarifying the ESA procedures as a follow-up to a Government Accountability Office 2004 report, in response to “new challenges we face with regard to global warming and climate change” and to avoid unwarranted consultations.

But environmental organizations called “foul,” saying that the rule change undermined the effectiveness of the ESA.

And in March President Obama instructed government agencies to review the December regulation changes and, meantime, to “follow the prior longstanding consultation and concurrence practices” involving FWS and NMFS.

The ESA “reflects one of the nation’s profound commitments,” Obama said.

Following the decision announced April 28, government agencies will revert to the pre-December ESA procedures.

“By rolling back this 11th-hour regulation, we are ensuring that threatened and endangered species continue to receive the full protection of the law,” Salazar said. “Because science must serve as the foundation for decisions we make, federal agencies proposing to take actions that might affect threatened and endangered species will once again have to consult with biologists at the two departments.”

—Alan Bailey