By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
This week the Obama Administration shored up the Endangered Species Act, restoring a rule rescinded by the Bush Administration that requires federal agencies to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service when their activities could harm threatened or endangered species.
Obama announced the decision on Tuesday at the Interior Department, noting that “the work of scientist and experts in my administration, including right here in the Interior Department, will be respected.”
It was a statement that many conservationists could embrace as they work to maintain habitats, preserve federal park lands and stabilize animal populations under threat such as the Rocky Mountain gray wolves, the American Pika, polar bears, Atlantic lobsters, salmon and seals, among others.
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A stay for wolves as Obama stops last-minute Bush rules
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Amid the fanfare of the inauguration, President Obama went to work on Tuesday, and among his first acts was to freeze pending last-minute regulation changes by his predecessor.
The move gave the endangered Rocky Mountain Gray Wolves yet another reprieve in the arduous, years-long battle over whether or not they should continue to receive federal protection.
In recent months, the Bush Administration has pushed through a succession of new rules and regulations, many aimed at environmental projects, trying to beat the clock on its expiring reign. (It’s not an unusual game. Bill Clinton also made many last minute changes – that were later stopped by Bush.)
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Tags: · Center for Biodiversity, Endangered Species Act, President Bush, President Obama, Rocky Mountain gray wolves
Last minute oil development could slow Obama’s energy plans
By Harriet Blake
Green Right Now
In its waning days, the outgoing Bush administration is promoting oil-shale development in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming by passing midnight-hour regulations that would open public lands to oil-shale exploration, leasing and development. In November, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management put these regulations into effect to develop an oil shale program that the bureau says could add 800 billion barrels of oil from land in the Western United States.
In response, earlier this week, 11 environmental groups notified the administration and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of their intent to file federal lawsuits under the Endangered Species Act. The BLM has 60 days to respond. The environmental groups, which include the Sierra Club, the Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity, among others, want the administration to consider the effects that commercial oil-shale development will have on endangered species.
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Tags: · Bureau of Land Management, Center for Biodiversity, Colorado River, Endangered Species Act, energy security, oil shale, water
Gray wolves may be spared in Northern Rockies
September 18th, 2008 · No Comments
By Barbara Ke
ssler
Gray wolves, all but de-listed from the Endangered Species Act protections through a series of government steps this year, have won a reprieve. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official, the government will be withdrawing its declaration that the animals are fully recovered.
The move, reported by the Associated Press and various conservation groups, follows a federal court decision this summer that sided with environmentalists arguing that the wolves need continued protections.
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Tags: · Endangered Species Act, Idaho, Montana, Wildlife, Wolves, Wyoming
Polar Bears Declared Threatened, But Oil Business In Alaska Should Not Be
Photo: Susanne Miller / USFWS
By Barbara Kessler
The polar bear will be granted “threatened” status under the Endangered Species Act, the Bush Administration announced today, because the Arctic ice the animal needs to survive is shrinking and scientific projections show it will jeopardize the polar bear’s survival prospects for decades to come. But the decision, [...]
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Tags: · Endangered Species Act, Polar Bear
