SAN FRANCISCO, California, April 16, 2009 - The Center for Biological Diversity today delivered 52,000 petitions to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar requesting that he rescind two rules passed in the final days of the Bush administration that weaken the Endangered Species Act. One of these rules exempts thousands of federal activities, including those that generate greenhouse gases, from review under the Endangered Species Act, and the other sharply limits protections for the threatened polar bear. Secretary Salazar was in San Francisco for a public hearing on oil drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf. Under the Bush administration rules, the impacts of such drilling on climate and the polar bear would be exempt from consideration under the Endangered Species Act.
"The Bush regulations were an extinction sentence for the polar bear and all wildlife threatened by global warming," said Brian Nowicki of Center for Biological Diversity. "Secretary Salazar must act quickly to restore the Endangered Species Act and live up to President Obama's commitment to protect America's most imperiled wildlife."
Congress passed legislation on March 10 giving Secretary Salazar power during the following 60 days to rescind both rules with the stroke of a pen or until May 9. Despite the fact that 35 days have passed, Secretary Salazar has given no indication of whether he will use the power granted by Congress. On April 3, 44 members of the House of Representatives, including seven committee chairman and several other high-ranking leaders, sent a letter to secretaries Salazar and Locke urging them to use the authority to rescind the rules. The 52,000 petitions echo Congress's call to rescind the rules immediately.
"This is an important litmus test that will reveal how the Obama administration approaches global warming science and regulation," said Lauren Thorpe of Greenpeace. "Secretary Salazar has a unique opportunity to strike two bad Bush administration regulations that gut protections for polar bears and other species under the Endangered Species Act."
The Bush rules allow federal agencies to determine for themselves whether their actions are likely to harm endangered species and thus whether they need independent scientific review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and National Marine Fisheries services. The rules also prohibit any consideration of the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions from federal projects on endangered species like the polar bear. Greenhouse gas emissions are currently predicted to result in loss of two-thirds of the world's polar bear population by 2050. If the rules are allowed to remain in place, the Fish and Wildlife Service will not be able to consider and mitigate such impacts.
Many wildlife species threatened by oil and gas development along the outer continental shelf -- including polar bears and Pacific walruses in the north, and leatherback sea turtles and blue whales along California's coasts – also face dire threats from climate change. Saving these species from offshore oil development and climate change will require the full protections of the Endangered Species Act.
"President Obama and Secretary Salazar now have the opportunity to begin to repair the Bush administration's damage to our nation's environment and environmental protections, said Sarah Matsumoto of the Endangered Species Coalition. "We hope they will move quickly to protect our beautiful coasts and disappearing wilderness and restore protections to the polar bear and other endangered wildlife."
