Interior Department Weakens Endanger Species Act, Blocks Climate Change Evaluation

Last Thursday, the Interior Department changed rules to the 35-year-old Endangered Species Act that reduced oversight of the impacts of federal projects on wildlife and prevented the law from being used in evaluating whether a project would contribute to global climate change. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said his main intention was to ensure that the 1972 law was not used as a "back door" means of regulating greenhouse gas emissions.  Sen. John Kerry strongly criticized the revisions and vowed that the incoming Congress would end these "dangerous changes ... once and for all." Numerous environmental groups have filed suit in federal court to block the rule, including Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, and Defenders of Wildlife. Legal scholars said that, given the imminent arrival of a Democratic administration, the change was vulnerable to quick reversal. Read more at New York Times.