On March 11, 2009, President Obama signed into law the authority for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to rescind the Bush/Cheney last ditch assault on the Endangered Species Act.
But, it comes with an expiration date. So, why hasn’t Salazar signed off on the law?
In a March visit to Albuquerque, Salazar told the Associated Press, “We have concerns about it and because of those concerns we’re taking a very extensive review of the rule.”
What concerns? If he doesn’t sign off on the Bush ESA reversal, as the President clearly paved the way for him to do, then Salazar will send the message that he has the same Bush mentality of considering the needs of special interest groups over the preservation of wildlife. The changes that the Bush administration put into place on the way out the back door, would allow development projects to go forward, without scientific evaluation of the impact on wildlife, as the Endangered Species Act previously required.
Environmental groups, including WildEarth Guardians and Center for Biological Diversity, have sent Salazar petitions signed by over 100,000 voters, urging him to install the law to reinstate the back bone of the Endangered Species Act. He hasn’t done so, and there are only a few weeks remaining, before the deadline of May 9, 2009.
As Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar’s appointment has been controversial from the beginning. He managed to get confirmed, 
but his record on environmental and wildlife preservation efforts, have been questioned by many conservationist groups. Salazar was praised for voiding oil and gas drilling leases on public land in Utah, but he was also criticized for what some biologists believe to be the premature delisting of gray wolves previously protected under the ESA.
For a Secretary of Interior to manage public lands, without also managing its wild inhabitants, is not altruistic or unbiased. The Secretary cannot pick and chose which environmental laws they will follow and which ones they will sweep under the rug, as did Gale Norton, when she was appointed Secretary of Interior by George W. Bush. Ken Salazar once practiced as an environmental attorney prior to becoming Attorney General of Colorado. During his AG days, with considerable influence, while Norton was in office, Salazar threatened to sue the US Fish and Wildlife Service if they recommended the black-tailed prairie dog for protection as a “threatened” 
species under the ESA. A short time later, the effort to get protection for prairie dogs as an endangered species was withdrawn by the USFWS, as a result of questionable “new data.”
As a rancher, landowner, and member of the Cattlemen’s Association, Salazar comes from the old school generation, which believes prairie dogs are nothing but worthless pests and wolves are only seen as vicious animals; that prey on cows and sheep. We need an Interior Secretary, who can make wildlife management decisions based on science, not politics. This was a campaign promise that Obama made to the American people. The President signed the ESA law, opening the door for Salazar to do the right thing for wildlife, yet he continues to delay doing so.
The question remains: Why?
Sign the WildEarth Guardian petition
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