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OMB begins review of regulatory overhaul

Written by ALLISON WINTER, Greenwire
Friday, 14 November 2008
The White House is conducting its final review of controversial rules that would scale back some of the current protections in the Endangered Species Act. The regulatory overhaul headed to the Office of Management and Budget yesterday for an interagency vetting process that can take weeks to months. Interior Department officials have said they expect to complete the rules before President Bush leaves office in January. The rules have ignited a firestorm of criticism since the administration first proposed the overhaul in August. Environmental groups and prominent political figures -- including California Attorney General Jerry Brown and Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) -- have asked the administration to throw out the proposal. But in sending the rules to OMB, the administration indicated it has no intention of backing down. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said today that the package is the same one they proposed in August. The service expedited the review of hundreds of thousands of comments on the proposal last month and opted for an abbreviated environmental assessment of the proposal, rather than going through the lengthy process of creating an official environmental impact statement. The proposal would would fundamentally change how agencies consider threats to protected species by federal projects. Current law requires federal agencies to consult with FWS on projects that might threaten species. The new regulations would allow agencies to skip that wildlife consultation process if they believe there would be little harm to a species. Environmentalists have described the proposal as the most significant changes to the law in more than 20 years. They say it would eliminate a crucial safeguard for imperiled species and would allow potentially harmful projects to go forward unchecked. Interior's environmental assessment acknowledged that the regulations would reduce the number of consultations with federal scientists, but the agency says it would allow FWS to focus on cases that pose the greatest danger to species. Agencies have called on service biologists to complete a steadily increasing number of consultations since the requirement was added 22 years ago. In 2006, the service received 26,762 requests for informal consultations and 1,936 requests for formal consultations. Set as favorite Bookmark Email This Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment smaller \| bigger Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage. Write the displayed characters
Last Updated ( Friday, 14 November 2008 )

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