Obama Gains Authority to Restore Endangered Species Protections

by Edward Humes

Published March 11, 2009 @ 03:35PM PT

President Barack Obama can now go beyond executive orders while averting his predecessor's attempt to curtail some of the nation's strongest wildlife protections. The $410 billion omnibus spending bill that he signed today contains several riders giving him unambiguous authority to rescind the last-minute rule changes made by ex-President Bush that gutted the Endangered Species Act.

Without this authority and barring congressional action, months or years might have been required to restore the wildlife protections the Bush-Cheney White House sought to end.

President Obama may now, with the stroke of a pen:

• Restore global warming to the list of recognized threats to the polar bear (scientific opinion holds that global warming is the primary driver of the bear's potential extinction in the wild)
• Ban oil and gas drilling in polar bear habitat
• Restore the requirement for federal agencies to consult with federal wildlife and marine scientists when considering mining, building, logging and other construction projects that might have a negative impact on endangered species, putting science back on at least an equal footing with politics and economic factors. Had this rule been overturned successfully, it would have effectively turned the Endangered Species Act of 1973 on its head through executive fiat.

The omnibus was approved by the Senate Tuesday, over the opposition of all but eight Senate Republicans, including Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) the Senate’s leading global warming denier. (Emily's "Inhofe Watch" posts keep an eye on the Senator's activities.) Inhofe has complained that allowing consideration of the threat of global warming to a species' survival will slow construction projects needed to promote economic recovery. [[Sen. Inhofe voted against the economic stimulus package that is funding many of these projects. -- Ed.]]

Environmental organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity, which led the drive to secure endangered species protections for the polar bear, argue that the Bush rules were illegal on their face. The center filed suit to block them. Kassie Siegel, head of the center’s new Climate Law Institute, asserts that the Endangered Species Act should be a vehicle for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and that a strict interpretation of the law compels action against climate change as an extinction threat.

President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar have been non-committal on whether they agree with that interpretation. At a Senate hearing last month, Salazar said he was uncertain what role the Endangered Species Act should play in regulating global warming, adding, “We will take a look at it.”