Obama restores scientific consultation to Endangered Species Act

Environment News Service: President Barack Obama issued a memorandum today temporarily rescinding a Bush-era rule that weakened the Endangered Species Act. The Bush rule allowed federal agencies whose activities might harm threatened and endangered species to avoid the longstanding requirement that they consult first with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Issued jointly by the Departments of the Interior and Commerce just one month before the end of the Bush administration, the rule exempted many federal actions from review under the Endangered Species Act, even activities that generate greenhouse gases or emit toxic chemicals Instead, it allowed federal employees to use their own discretion to decide whether their actions were likely to harm endangered species, whether or not they had the scientific expertise to make those decisions.

In his memo, President Obama requests the Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce to review the regulation issued on December 16, 2008, and to determine whether to undertake new rulemaking procedures….

This endangered banded iguana says, "Thank you." Photo by Tim Vickers, who has released it into the public domain.