The Bush Administration recently made controversial changes to the Section 7 consultation process of the Endangered Species Act, and I believe these changes will actually result in more litigation. From the Seattle Times, United States:

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne described the change as a “clarification,” of Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. Instead of consulting independent reaction from the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to assess consequences, it would be up to an agency’s own self-serving discretion.

Hard-earned experience has taught the environmental community this is a bogus approach, and they filed suit in federal court to challenge changes they view as illegal.

The Interior Department is also trying to change language that covers the breadth of a designation of endangered status. In the past, listing bald eagles as endangered meant all bald eagles were covered. The administration wants to narrow the definition by qualifying and limiting descriptions of a species’ range and territory.

Another last-minute flurry of activity is under way with the Bureau of Land Management, which wants to open 51,000 acres of oil and gas leases near Arches, Dinosaur and Canyonlands national parks.

Environmentalists are upset, appropriately so, and so is the National Park Service, which sounds like it was blindsided by the sales. They are none too keen about the prospects of drilling trashing up treasured and protected views and vistas.

In spite of his environmental crimes, Bush is being hailed as a champion of ocean conservation, although the vast majority of the Bush Administration’s policies have exacerbated environmental degradation; and certainly these anti-environmental policies of the Administration negate any pro-environmental policies taken by the Administration. Undoubtedly, Bush protecting ocean environments in such a big way will help infuse his legacy with some good. Otherwise, it’s a perplexing and contradictory presidential move for Bush. Nonetheless, something is better than nothing. From the Los Angeles Times:

Laura Bush does not have a halo, and, as far as we know, Dick Cheney doesn’t wield a pitchfork. Yet it’s hard not to see the two as the angel and the demon on President Bush’s shoulders as he ponders whether to protect vast stretches of pristine ocean habitat in the remote Pacific.

For months, Bush has been considering the creation of two sweeping marine reserves, a move that would make him the most ocean-friendly president in history. Bush had already achieved distinction when, in 2006, he approved a 140,000-square-mile marine national monument in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. But the new plan would dwarf that, potentially protecting up to 900,000 square miles around the Mariana Islands and around a series of tiny, U.S.-controlled territories stretching from the Line Islands to the Rose Atoll in American Samoa

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