Andrew Wetzler's Blog
Polar bear pileup
April 18, 2008
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Just to expand a bit on David's very smart post about the White House's phony "regulatory train wreck" scaremongering over efforts to fight global warming with existing environmental laws, it's worth noting that one of the other laws that the Administration is pointing to is the Endangered Species Act. What the White House is really talking about, of course, is the polar bear. In fact, just yesterday, in response to a lawsuit filed by NRDC, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Greenpeace, the Department of Interior committed in court documents to make a final decision on whether or not to protect the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act no later than June 30th. And this is after months of unnecessary delays. A decision to place the polar bear on the endangered species list (which the White House clearly seemed to telegraph) hardly constitutes a "train wreck." The regulatory effect of the listing the polar bear on global warming pollution is, in fact, a different issue and one not likely to be settled for some time. A train wreck? Hardly. Another excuse to try to short circuit the implementation of our environmental laws? You betcha!
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