Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
The Los Angeles Times reports that President Obama will make an announcement today about former President Bush's last-minute regulations weakening the Endangered Species Act. The Bush regulations went into effect on January 15, 2009. According to the Times, the White...continued→
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
Oregon and seven other states are joining California's lawsuit, filed two week ago against the Bush Administration over its last-minute Endangered Species Act regulations. The other states are: Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. OregonLive has...continued→
Posted by Andrew Wetzler
Yesterday California's Attorney General filed a federal lawsuit to block the Bush Administration's last-minute regulations weakening the Endangered Species Act. His action follows separate lawsuits filed by NRDC, Earthjustice, and other conservation groups, also in California. All of these cases will...continued→
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
I'm listening to the Secretary of the Interior Kempthorne's press conference on the Bush Administration's last minute changes to the Endangered Species Act (and boy are they last minute!) and, despite several protestations to the contrary, they sound largely unchanged...continued→
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
A few days ago, I noted that if the Bush Administration really wanted to amend the Endangered Species Act’s implementing regulations, it first needed to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement analyzing the changes under the National Environmental Policy Act. The...continued→
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
One other thing it’s worth noting about the Bush Administration’s rush to get its Endangered Species Act rule changes to the White House by early November: it may be illegal. There are two legal requirements the Fish and Wildlife Service...continued→
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
Remember those proposed rules that would weaken the Endangered Species Act? You know, the ones that generated hundreds of thousands of comments from concerned citizens? Well, it looks like the Bush Administration isn’t going let the pesky task of actually...continued→
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Today’s AP reports that aerial surveys conducted by the Minerals Management Service on August 16 recorded 9 polar bears swimming far from shore or any pack ice. As Arctic sea ice disappears, recording incidents of such long-distance swimming is becoming...continued→
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
The Bush Administrations’ last-minute proposal to dramatically weaken Endangered Species Act protections for fish, wildlife, and plants has now been officially published in the Federal Register. Because the Fish and Wildlife Service is refusing to accept any comments by e-mail,...continued→
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
Ahhh, the Bush Administration. Today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service announced that they are going to propose new regulatory changes to the Endangered Species Act that will dramatically weaken provisions of the law...continued→
