Obama Restores Bushed Protections for Polar Bear, Other Species

Published March 04, 2009 @ 08:51AM PT

Two swimming polar bears in vast expanse of sea ice

President Barack Obama un-gutted the Endangered Species Act yesterday by rescinding one of the Bush Administration's most reviled midnight rules: allowing agencies to approve federal construction projects that could harm endangered plants and animals, without consulting federal wildlife scientists.

Obama's executive order restores the mandate for scientific consultation between agencies -- putting science back on equal, if not somewhat elevated, footing with both politics and economics when new construction and development projects are being considered.

"The work of scientists and experts in my administration, including here at the Interior Department, will be respected," Obama said during a visit to the department in honor of its 160th anniversary. "With smart, sustainable policies, we can grow our economy today and preserve the environment."
Environmentalists were jubilant at the executive order.

"President Obama waited less than six weeks after taking office to visit the Department of the Interior, declare his support for the goals of the Endangered Species Act, and begin to restore public trust in the Department that manages a fifth of our country's land," said Jamie Rappaport Clark in a statement. Clark is the executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife and a former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "By contrast, former President Bush waited until the final six months of his presidency before visiting the Department of the Interior, after his administration spent years politically manipulating science and decision-making at the Department."

"Scientists are no longer an endangered species," added Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) in a press release.

Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, called Obama's order "an essential first step," but cautioned that additional legislation or rulemaking may be necessary to fully restore the scientific consultations, as well as other key provisions of the Endangered Species Act. Suckling's group advocates regulation of carbon dioxide created by human activities, which is the leading threat to the climate and thus endangering many wild animals and plants, and has used the mandate for scientific consultations to try and bring this about.

The omnibus appropriations bill currently under consideration in the Senate, includes a provision authorizing the president to restore the scientific consultations required by the Endangered Species Act, while waiving the usual lengthy process for establishing federal rules and regulations. The bill passed in the House in late February.

The provision would also allow Obama to rescind, with a stroke of a pen, the Bush rule change that blocked regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and oil development in order to protect the endangered polar bear. Since climate change and dirty energy development are the primary drivers of the bear's increasingly precarious existence in the wild, this move

The Obama Administration has reversed or is reviewing many of the Bush administration's midnight rules - changes in federal regulations pushed through in the last weeks of Bush's presidency. These include the "California waiver," which would allow it to impose regulations on auto emissions that were stricter than federal regulations. The EPA under other presidents had routinely approved California's waiver requests.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has argued that it was illegal for the EPA to deny the waiver, sought as part of the state's program to rein in greenhouse gas and other tailpipe pollutants.

Image: Polar bears swimming. Source: US Geological Survey

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Comments (6)

Great news!

Best line of the day: "Scientists are no longer an endangered species." :)

Posted by Mia Walker on 03/05/2009 @ 01:25AM PT
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Good news. I just hope it is not too late...

Posted by C P on 03/05/2009 @ 05:21AM PT
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For the polar bear, things are pretty dicey in the wild at this point, unless we can magically suck the excess CO2 out of the air within the next few years.
If the full power of the ESA were to be brought to bear on preserving the species (no pun inten...oh hell, pun embraced and given a kiss), it could accelerate "de-carbonizing" of our energy systems, though.

Posted by Emily Gertz on 03/09/2009 @ 10:37AM PT
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Is there any effort in building habitats for polar bears, i.e. floating islands, etc, to help preserve the remaining animals? I don't think the climate will change fast enough to save them. Polar ice will disappear soon, but before that happens, the bears will die without habitats year round. Already many are drowning for the lack of food and the longer distances to swim between ice floats.

Posted by Andrew Chow on 03/30/2009 @ 01:52PM PT
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Yesterday, Congress passed a bill that will allow President Obama to quickly and easily overturn the Bush
Administration rules that weakened the Endangered Species Act. They rejected the efforts of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to strip the provision from the bill.

As this blog notes, last week, President Obama announced that he will reconsider the Bush Administration's regulations that weakened the Endangered Species Act. Now, he will have an opportunity to overturn the harmful regulations quickly and easily.

The Endangered Species Act is the safety net for
our nation's wildlife, fish and plants on the brink of extinction. The Bush Administration's new regulations cut a hole in the safety net and take scientists out of the decision making process.

This is a great victory thanks in part to change.org members who signed the petition to the Obama Administration to overturn the regulations.

President Obama can overturn the Bush Administration's regulations that weaken the Endangered Species Act. He needs to hear from us right now.

If you have not already, sign the change.org petition to President Obama to restore endandered species protections at www.change.org/esc/actions

Posted by Endangered Species Coalition on 03/11/2009 @ 01:26PM PT
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Thank goodness...we're all out here holding our breaths...going to work every day, trying to be more conscious of every purchase & figuring out how to instill that in our grandchildren & great grandchildren...gingerly reminding everyone to be intentional about their choices in every area of their lives...now at least the polar bears have the headlines for a long overdue photo op, with "The/Pres" no less. Thank you Mr. President, for this act, also for the new Victory garden. You lead & we will follow & with any luck my great grandaughter will not be reading about the extinction of the polar bears etc to her children.
Amber Joy

Posted by Amber Joy on 03/22/2009 @ 06:44AM PT
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Author

Edward Humes is the author of eight critically acclaimed nonfiction books, including the bestseller Mississippi Mud and, most recently, Monkey Girl. He has received the Pulitzer Prize for his journalism and is writer-at-large for Los Angeles magazine. He lives in California. His latest book, ECO BARONS: The Dreamers, Schemers & Millionaires Who are Saving Our Planet, was published in March 2009 by Ecco/Harper Collins. To visit his blog, click here.