Bush Sez Varmints Gotta Go

Well not in quite those words.

Peer Link

Washington, DC — The U.S. Interior Department is preparing a wide-ranging set of regulations which substantially weaken the federal Endangered Species Act, according to internal documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Center for Biological Diversity.

According to PEER, federal oversight would be history and the states would be responsible. Without centralized control, many species would likely again be on the decline.

PEER:

Remove recovery of a species or population as a protection standard;
Allow projects to proceed that have been determined to threaten species with extinction;
Permit destruction of all restored habitat within critical habitat areas;
Prevent critical habitat areas from being used to protect against disturbance, pesticides, exotic species, and disease;
Severely limit the listing of new endangered species; and
Empower states to veto endangered species introductions as well as administer virtually all aspects of the Endangered Species Act within their borders.

This sums it up well:

“If these regulations had been in place 30 years ago, the bald eagle, grizzly bear, and gray wolf would never have been listed as endangered species and the peregrine falcon, black-footed ferret, and California condor would never have been reintroduced to new states,” added Suckling. “This plan makes recovery all but impossible for most endangered species. Simply stated, it is the worst attack on the Endangered Species Act in the past 35 years.”

There are many materials at the PEER link above, some of which I am just starting to digest. Go over, have a look and call your legislator.