Another last hour Bush Administration rule revoked

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Polar Bear | Photo 17

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Before leaving office last year, President Bush rewrote the Endangered Species Act (ESA) “to keep global climate change and the loss of wildlife habitat from being used under the ESA as a reason to curtail industry activities, such as oil and gas drilling in Alaska”, but yesterday, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar revoked Bush’s changes and restored the Endangered Species Act to its former status.

The changes that the Bush Administration had put in place essentially eliminated formal and informal consultations with the Fish and Wildlife Service if federal agencies determined unilaterally that a project would have no effect on threatened or endangered species.  The changes also put in place mechanisms that would allow projects to ‘marginally’ affect threatened and endangered species.  There was also a 60-day timeframe to review projects that was imposed, essentially allowing even the most destructive projects to go forward if the deadline was overshot.  According to John Kostyack, Executive Director of Wildlife Conservation and Global Warming at the National Wildlife Federation, “these changes (adopted by the Bush Administration) take unbiased, professional wildlife biologists out of the equation and put decisions in the hands of political appointees”.

There are currently 17 species of special concern in Alaska including bears, seals, birds, whales, otters, and fish.  “By rolling back this 11th hour regulation, we are ensuring that threatened and endangered species continue to receive the full protection of the law,” Secretary 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.”  He was referring to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

President Obama called for a review of the Bush rule changes last month, which ultimately brought about yesterday’s ruling.  Business leaders, as well as oil and gas executives were not happy about the decision.  “Today's action is regrettable in that this administration is rushing to revoke a legally issued federal rule without public notice and comment, using a little-known and unpopular provision of the recent omnibus appropriations bill to change a federal regulation,” said Joe Robson from the National Association of Home Builders.

Environmentalists were relatively happy about the decision but drew attention to the polar bear.  A special rule still applies to the polar bear and “instructs Interior not to take into account impacts on the polar bear, federally listed as threatened, that occur outside its range, such as greenhouse gas emissions”.

The issues surrounding the placement of the polar bear on the endangered species list are more complicated than those surrounding the peregrine falcon or the beluga whale.  Polar bears are in danger due to sea ice melting around Alaska, and sea ice is melting because of greenhouse gas build-up in the atmosphere; therefore, to protect the polar bear, emissions would have to be capped and lowered under the existing endangered species law.  Every business and industry that depends upon the ability to pump pollution into the atmosphere for free is actively fighting the polar bear’s placement on the endangered species list.  If the polar bear were to be considered endangered, not just threatened, the days of free pollution are over.

Getting humanity to recognize the effects of climate change occurring in distant regions of the world is challenging.  Countless efforts have been employed to bring the issue closer to home for those of us who live in industrialized countries sheltered from the initial effects of climate change.  The Obama Administration seems determined to help American businesses develop a more collective view of the problem, taking into account the accumulative effects certain industries have upon the planet, but is being met with considerable resistance from fossil fuel lobbying groups.

The entire continent of Africa is responsible for only about 3% of global emissions, but its people are already beginning to experience drastic climatic shifts resulting in drought and disrupted water supplies.  The tiny country of Tuvalu in the South Pacific has already had to be abandoned due to sea level rise.  “Like the sinking of the Titanic, catastrophes are not democratic.  A much higher fraction of passengers from the cheaper decks were lost. We’ll see the same phenomenon with global warming,” said Henry I. Miller from Stanford University describing the timeless human condition where the fates of others with little money are not considered of equal value to their wealthy counterparts.

Asking humanity to consider the fate of the polar bear before it is able to consider the plight of other human beings may not be...

Full article HERE.