The Endangered Species Act is potentially the latest victim of the anti-science Bush Administration:
The Bush administration wants federal agencies to decide for themselves whether highways, dams, mines and other construction projects might harm endangered animals and plants. […]
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said late Monday the changes were needed to ensure that the Endangered Species Act would not be used as a “back door” to regulate the gases blamed for global warming. In May, the polar bear became the first species declared as threatened because of climate change. Warming temperatures are expected to melt the sea ice the bear depends on for survival.
The draft rules would bar federal agencies from assessing the emissions from projects that contribute to global warming and its effect on species and habitats.
“We need to focus our efforts where they will do the most good,” Kempthorne said in a news conference organized quickly after AP reported details of the proposal. “It is important to use our time and resources to protect the most vulnerable species. It is not possible to draw a link between greenhouse gas emissions and distant observations of impacts on species.”
Except that all the peer reviewed science say it is and stuff. But whatever – better to rely on what some political appointee or DOT lawyer thinks is causing the polar bears to drown than people who actually spend their lives studying the issue.
DWTFTW seems as appropriate here as ever.
The Endangered <em>Endangered Species Act</em>Post + Comments (51)