President Obama Restores Key Endangered Species Act Requirement
March 3, 2009
Today, while speaking at the Department of the Interior, President Obama announced that his Administration would reverse a Bush Administration regulation that allowed federal agencies to decide on their own whether or not to comply with the consultation requirement of the Endangered Species Act, saying:
Finally, today I've signed a memorandum that will help restore the scientific process to its rightful place at the heart of the Endangered Species Act, a process undermined by past administrations. The work of scientists and experts in my administration - including right here in the Interior Department - will be respected. For more than three decades, the Endangered Species Act has successfully protected our nation's most threatened wildlife, and we should be looking for ways to improve it - not weaken it.Throughout our history, there's been a tension between those who've sought to conserve our natural resources for the benefit of future generations, and those who have sought to profit from these resources. But I'm here to tell you this is a false choice. With smart, sustainable policies, we can grow our economy today and preserve the environment for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren. That is what we must do.
House Natural Resources Committee Chair Nick J. Rahall on the announcement:
I wholeheartedly support the President's proposal to restore the protections for endangered species that the Bush Administration spent so many years trying to undermine. It is one more indication that the new Administration truly represents change for the better and is committed to the protection of our natural resources and our environment. I think we know who would have been the winner in this fox-guarding-the-hen-house scenario advanced by the Bush Administration, and it would not be the hens.
Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Chair Ed Markey:
Today proves that, under an Obama administration, scientists are no longer an endangered species. Thankfully, ESA in the Obama administration now means we are 'Ending the Scientific Aversion' that characterized the Bush administration's tenure. We stand at the ready here in Congress to help the Obama administration clean up the deregulated mess left over from the last eight years. We applaud the president for taking such decisive action on this and other environmental rules.