President Barack Obama last week revoked a rule that limited the role of wildlife experts in reviewing roads, pipelines and other projects under the Endangered Species Act.
The rule, established in the last weeks of George W. Bush's administration, allowed federal agencies planning such projects to make decisions about whether threatened or endangered species would be harmed, without first consulting the National Marine Fisheries Service or the Fish and Wildlife Service. Among species currently being considered by the Fish and Wildlife Service for protection under the Endangered Species Act is the American pika (pictured).
The Bush administration said that the change reduced unnecessary paperwork, but environmentalists said that it undermined a key safeguard.
Obama had promised to review the issue in early March, and the Department of the Interior followed up by rescinding the rule on 28 April.
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Obama revokes endangered species rule. Nature 459, 23 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/459023f
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/459023f
