Obama: mixed signals on endangered species

November 23, 5:01 PMTallahassee Environmental News ExaminerJudson Parker

Previous Next

4 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Tallahassee Environmental News Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Earlier this year, President Obama made many environmental and conservation groups happy by reversing a Bush-era policy that allowed developers to break ground on new projects without any review of the impact to wildlife habitats.

The rules under the Endangered Species Act had previously been amended to allow executive approval without an independent assessment by the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"The work of scientists and experts in my administration, including right here in the Interior Department, will be respected," President Obama said.

"For more than three decades, the endangered species act has successfully protected our nation's most threatened wildlife."

"We should be looking for ways to improve it, not weaken it.”

But lately, Obama’s words have been ringing empty.

In a report released on November 6th, 2009 by the Fish and Wildlife Service, it was revealed that of the 249 species that are formal candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act, only two have been approved so far by the Obama administration.

By comparison, President Bush averaged adding around ten new species a year to the protection list and 522 were added under Clinton: a rate of 65 species per year.

It doesn’t matter very much that Obama has reversed Bush-era policies if his administration is outright stalling new species from being listed. Many of these species are in danger of extinction in the immediate future: some of them may not be listed in time unless the administration makes some serious priority adjustments.

"Continued delays in protection of these 249 species is a failure of leadership by Interior Secretary Salazar,” said Noal Greenwald, Endangered Species Director for Center for Biological Diversity.

And that failure is placing these species at greater risk of extinction. The position of Chief of Conservation and Classification hasn’t even been filled yet, exemplifying the failure of the Obama administration to prioritize species conservation.

For more information, check out the Center for Biological Diversity website.

For a complete list of species in the White House report, please check here.

Photo courtesy everystockphoto.com