Salon: Inside the secretive plan to gut the Endangered Species Act

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/03/27/endangered_species/

Inside the secretive plan to gut the Endangered Species Act

Proposed regulatory changes, obtained by Salon, would destroy the "safety net for animals and plants on the brink of extinction," say environmentalists.

By Rebecca Clarren


March 27, 2007 | The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is maneuvering to fundamentally weaken the Endangered Species Act, its strategy laid out in an internal 117-page draft proposal obtained by Salon. The proposed changes limit the number of species that can be protected and curtail the acres of wildlife habitat to be preserved. It shifts authority to enforce the act from the federal government to the states, and it dilutes legal barriers that protect habitat from sprawl, logging or mining.

"The proposed changes fundamentally gut the intent of the Endangered Species Act," says Jan Hasselman, a Seattle attorney with Earthjustice, an environmental law firm, who helped Salon interpret the proposal. "This is a no-holds-barred end run around one of America's most popular environmental protections. If these regulations stand up, the act will no longer provide a safety net for animals and plants on the brink of extinction."

In recent months, the Fish and Wildlife Service has gone to extraordinary efforts to keep drafts of regulatory changes from the public. All copies of the working document were given a number corresponding to a person, so that leaked copies could be traced to that individual. An e-mail sent in March from an assistant regional director at the Fish and Wildlife Service to agency staff, asking for comments on and corrections to the first draft, underscored the concern with secrecy: "Please Keep close hold for now. Dale does not want this stuff leaking out to stir up discontent based on speculation."

Many Fish and Wildlife Service employees believe the draft is not based on "defensible science," says a federal employee who asked to remain anonymous. Yet "there is genuine fear of retaliation for communicating that to the media. People are afraid for their jobs."

Chris Tollefson, a spokesperson for the service, says that while it's accurate to characterize the agency as trying to keep the draft under wraps, the agency has every intention of communicating with the public about the proposed changes; the draft just hasn't been ready. And, he adds, it could still be changed as part of a forthcoming formal review process.

Administration critics characterize the secrecy as a way to maintain spin control, says Kieran Suckling, policy director of the Center for Biological Diversity, a national environmental group. "This administration will often release a 300-page-long document at a press conference for a newspaper story that will go to press in two hours, giving the media or public no opportunity to digest it and figure out what's going on," Suckling says. " Kempthorne will give a feel-good quote about how the new regulations are good for the environment, and they can win the public relations war."

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[alarimer]

1. More of the Bush War on Science

And war on the environment. Have I even mentioned how much I hate these people?

And here I was considering looking for a job with USFW. Guess I won't be doing that. I work for a state agency and even if there is a Republican governor, things are never as politicized as this. Our mission is the same no matter who is in office. But this administration politicizes everything. They appoint people to head these agencies who do not believe in the mission of the agency! Or who are completely unsuited for the job. It makes James Watt look like an environmentalist by comparison.

[shanti]

5. it's not so much a war on science, imo

but a grab for the $$$$. remember, EVERYTHING boils down to money with this crew, and those pesky endangered species are keeping them from getting ALLLL of it!

:grr:

[alarimer]

7. Well there IS a Republican war on science

and it is a part of this but mostly they are doing the bidding of wealthy landowners and developers. The ESA was landmark legislation for its time and the right-wingers have always wanted to get rid of it. "Shoot, shovel and shut up."

[DCKit]

2. Dominion Theology in practice.

Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming. God gave us the planet as our own, not as caretakers, but for profit. Armageddon is close at hand, so it's OK to rape the planet now 'cause only the sinners will be left behind to deal with the aftermath.

It's amazing what some people chose to believe against all logic.

[zippy890]

3. kick

and an ARRRGHHH

[Morgana LaFey]

4. It's hard to understand these people

It's as if having almost EVERYthing isn't enough, it's necessary to destroy what's left. Or leaving a little for others, which they wouldn't even miss, is out of the question. Or sharing a little space with other creatures -- no, destruction, destruction, destruction is the rule of the day.

Let's bleepin' DESTROY everything, and see how quickly we can do it, too.

[babylonsister]

8. I have the same feelings about them voting to continue war; WHY?

Haven't enough lives been lost, enough money made?

[JohnLocke]

6. K&R (nt).