As You Read This, Bush is Messing With the Endangered Species Law
In a last minute effort to alter the endangered species rules before Bush leaves office, officials are speed-reading 200,000 public comments. If the Administration goes through with their plan, they will implement the biggest changes to the rules since 1986.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has called 15 people to Washington this week to speed read 200,000 comments in 32 hours. The public comments are regarding a proposal by the interior department to exclude greenhouse gases and the advice of federal biologists from decisions about whether dams and power plants could harm species.
Dale Hall, Fish and Wildlife Service Director, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the short time frame for processing the comments was requested by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and, indeed would set a record. Usually the review process takes months.
