Bush may gut Endangered Species Act

Is the Decider consciously trying to top his own kill-and-destroy record, or is the liar on autopilot now?

For 35 years, the Endangered Species Act has encompassed federal agencies. As long as I've been alive, government scientists have always reviewed federally authorized projects to protect threatened species.

But now the Bush regime wants to gut this law by letting federal agencies decide for themselves if their actions will harm endangered animals and plants - with no independent reviews by scientists.

Science never was the ruling regime's strong suit, and the regime's excuse for this change makes this even more obvious. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the change is needed to keep the Endangered Species Act from being used to regulate climate change gases.

Um, Dirk? That's exactly why the change isn't needed. Early this year, the polar bear became the first species officially declared threatened by global warming. If climate change threatens species, then why shouldn't there be some regulation on agencies emitting gases that cause this phenomenon?

If the regime gets its way, federal agencies won't even be allowed to assess emissions from their own projects.

How utterly revolting and greedy can the Bush regime get? Much of this change was designed to appease powerful developers who were mad at projects they support being delayed.

Maybe the states need to step in and require the scientists' reviews to continue.

(Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080811/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/bush_endangered_species)