Obama Administration Begins to Reopen Endangered Species Act rulings

I noticed in today's Federal Register that the Fish and Wildlife Service has reopened the public comment period on its proposal to remove Endangered Species Act protections for the Hawaiian hawk and for its proposed designation of critical habitat for the marbled murrelet. 

The murrelet proposal was somewhat controversial when initially floated by the Bush Administration; the hawk's delisting less so.  Like virtually all of its critical habitat decisions, the Bush Administration's revisions to the murrelet's critical habitat cut back on the amount of protected land significantly, eliminating 250,000 acres of habitat from protected status.  

Hopefully today's announcements signals a broad movement within the Fish and Wildlife to take a fresh look at the Bush Administration's Endangered Species Act decisions.  God knows a lot of them need it.