California challenges endangered species rule changes

Charging that the outgoing Bush administration is trying to gut the Endangered Species Act, California has sued to stop the federal government from going ahead with mining, logging and other environmentally sensitive projects without consulting scientists. This month the Interior and Commerce Departments changed rules to enable federal agencies to decide for themselves whether their actions put wildlife at risk, scrapping a previous requirement that they conduct reviews with scientists to determine whether their actions might hurt endangered or threatened species. "The Bush administration is seeking to gut the Endangered Species Act on its way out the door," California Attorney General Jerry Brown said in a statement announcing the suit, which was filed Monday in Northern California Federal District Court to force the government to drop the rule changes. Brown argued that scrapping the scientific reviews would significantly increase the risk that federal agencies would greenlight projects that could harm endangered species and their habitats. The Interior Department has contended the agencies can make good decisions themselves without the input of scientists, but environmentalists swiftly denounced the move. Before California weighed in, the Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation and the Center for Biological Diversity had all launched similar actions in court to block the rule changes. Since President George W. Bush took office in 2001, 58 species have been added to the endangered species list, compared with 522 during the eight years of President Bill Clinton's administration.