Andy Gilbertson

March 30, 2007

The environmental community is gravely concerned after recently leaked documents from the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW), the agency in charge of implementing the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The documents indicate a "rewrite from top to bottom" of the ESA, in the words of Kieran Suckling of the Center for Biological Diversity.

Apparently the USFW is considering moving ESA responsibilities from the federal government to the states, such as the listing of species as threatened or endangered, and developing recovery plans. Additionally, the document proposes to block governors from reintroducing species onto the endangered species list.

Furthermore, the changes would put temporal and geographic restrictions on the ESA. Presently the ESA is interpreted has having no temporal cap and its geographic reach extends to a species' historical range. The proposal would cap listing to either 20 years or by a certain number of generations of the species, and would limit ESA-protection to a species' current range.

Finally, the proposal would modify the requirements for new constructions projects built in a species' range. Presently, all projects that impact the species are prohibited. Under the proposal such projects would be allowed so long as the construction will not "hasten" the species' extinction.

In effect, the proposed changes will change the purpose of the ESA from protecting endangered species to managing their extinction. Jan Hasslman, an attorney for Earthjustice, said the changes would "fundamentally weaken the protection the [ESA] offers." Dan Patterson of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said the proposal would be a "radical weakening" of the ESA.

H. Dale Hall, USFW Director, stated that the proposals were the beginning of a discussion of potential changes to the ESA, done in order to get "all the options on the table." Hugh Vickery, spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, has promised that "[t]here's not going to be anything done to damage our ability to protect endangered species."

Sources:

Leaked document available at http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/PROGRAMS/esa/pdfs/4RegulationSynthesis.pdf

H. Josef Hebert, Govt. Eyes Changes in Species Protection, A.P., Mar. 27, 2007, available at http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/ENDANGERED_SPECIES?SITE=ALMON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT.

Janet Wilson & Julie Cart, Endangered Species Act Changes in the Works, L.A. Times, Mar. 28, 2007, available at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-endangered28mar28,1,2959812.story?coll=la-headlines-nation.

Felicity Barringer, Proposed Changes Would Shift Duties in Protecting Species, N.Y. Times, Mar. 27, 2007, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/washington/28habitat.html.