The Interior Department yesterday finalized rules changing the way it administers the Endangered Species Act , enabling other government agencies to decide on their own whether a project would harm an imperiled species without an independent scientific review .
yesterday
interior department yesterday finalize rule change way administer endangered species act enable government agency decide project harm imperiled specie independent scientific review
The Interior Department <m> yesterday </m> finalized rules changing the way it administers the Endangered Species Act , enabling other government agencies to decide on their own whether a project would harm an imperiled species without an independent scientific review .
The Interior Department <m> yesterday </m> finalized rules changing the way it administers the Endangered Species Act , enabling other government agencies to decide on their own whether a project would harm an imperiled species without an independent scientific review .
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne called the move `` a clarification '' he considered essential in order to narrow the law 's reach .
`` The rule strengthens the regulations so the government can focus on protecting endangered species as it strives to rebuild the American economy , '' Kempthorne said , adding that agencies can bypass a review by either the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration only `` in specific and limited instances where an action is not anticipated to harass , harm or kill a protected species . ''
Dale Hall , who directs the Fish and Wildlife Service , said the change did not mean that agencies could build dams , roads or other projects without taking into account the consequences .
`` The agency still has the full responsibility to make that decision and to defend that decision , '' Hall said , noting that the loss of an imperiled species , known as `` take , '' carries legal penalties .
`` They 're still liable for take , if take occurs . ''
Hall said he was initially concerned about `` the compressed time frame '' in which the agency pushed through the rule change , which was unveiled in August , but he added that he did n't `` see any harm '' in Kempthorne 's final decision .
Interior went ahead with the rule change one day after the Environmental Protection Agency dropped two other controversial rules changes , saying they had come along too late in President Bush 's term. White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the reason was that the administration had `` publicly and clearly stated our intention '' to enact the endangered species measure well before a self-imposed deadline on eleventh-hour rule changes .
The agency received nearly 235,000 comments on the endangered species proposal , at least 208,000 of which were form letters decrying the rule .
Congressional Democrats and environmentalists sharply criticized the administration for the Interior Department action .
`` As the Bush administration fades off into the sunset , it continues to take brazen pot shots at everything in sight , including America 's landmark conservation law , the Endangered Species Act , '' said House Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall II ( D-W.Va. ) , who said he would introduce legislation seeking to overturn the rule next year .
Separately yesterday , Interior issued a finding limiting the protections that could be invoked to protect polar bears , which were listed as a threatened species this year , on the grounds that the bears are already protected under the Marine Mammals Protection Act .
The finding means that the bears ' protected status could not be used to block activities such as oil and gas development outside their Alaska habitat .
`` We do not believe the science is there to make the causal link between activities in the lower 48 to the take of a polar bear , '' Kempthorne said .
`` To finally admit that the science compels the listing of the polar bear as threatened due to global warming , but then deny it the protections the Endangered Species Act should provide , is nothing other than irresponsible and shameful , '' said Jamie Rappaport Clark , executive vice president of the advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife , adding that her group would sue to overturn the rule .