Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act “directs all Federal agencies to use their existing authorities to conserve threatened and endangered species and, in consultation with the Service, to ensure that their actions do not jeopardize listed species or destroy or adversely modify critical habitat, [and] Section 7 applies to management of Federal lands as well as other Federal actions that may affect listed species, such as Federal approval of private activities through the issuance of Federal permits, licenses, or other actions.”

Obviously, Section 7 as a substantive rule carries a lot of weight, so without the mandatory Section 7 consultation requirement or independent review, the ESA would be much weaker. Before leaving office, former President George W. Bush attempted to weaken this provision. From TPMDC:

The bill also authorizes a reversal of last year’s controversial Bush end run around the Endangered Species Act, which would allow oil rigs and highways to be built anywhere in the U.S. without independent reviews of their potential impact on the surrounding wildlife populations. As Bloomberg reports:

The provision authorizes President Barack Obama to reverse a Bush administration rule that said energy projects outside the habitat of polar bears couldn’t be blocked solely because emissions might add to global warming and destruction of the arctic species.
…

The provision could also expand the consultations required before changes are made to endangered-species listings. A rule issued under President George W. Bush limited the number of agencies that had to weigh in on decisions about endangered animals.

In other endangered species news:

1. The “furry little American pika has chalked up a significant victory in Sacramento federal court, [because] the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finally agreed to consider listing it as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act.”
2. The republicans are not happy about polar bear protection in bill: “Language in the omnibus spending bill that would allow the Obama administration to reverse a controversial regulation on the polar bear is raising the ire of some prominent Republicans, who claim the rider could open the door for the Interior Department to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.”
3. A Georgia man was charged for possessing various wildlife contraband: “United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said, ‘This defendant was a collector and had acquired a number of illegal skulls of birds and the carcass of a snow leopard, all of which are endangered and therefore protected by federal wildlife law.’”
4. Mixed salmon forecast: “Things are looking up for commercial and sports fishing off the northern Oregon and Washington Coasts. But the forecast remains grim farther south.”
5. Protected sea lions eating endangered salmon and sturgeon will be trapped and killed. From the Seattle Post Intelligencer:
   

   A federal appeals court has refused to block plans to start trapping and killing sea lions that eat endangered salmon at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River.

   The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled Thursday it would not issue a stay sought by the Humane Society of the United States, because their arguments are unlikely to prevail as the case moves forward.

   California sea lions are normally protected by federal law. But since some have discovered that salmon – including threatened and endangered species – are easy pickings at the dam, NOAA Fisheries Service has given authority to the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho to kill up to 85 a year.

The American pika image was found here, and the sea lion images were found here and here.

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