.

not that this is a political
blog, but my country borders
theirs , therefore theirs affects
mine daily, and since Nature knows
no nation, I pray for urgent
leadership for a country that
currently knows none ...

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:16:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: Center for Biological Diversity
Subject: Endangered Species Act Under Assault

Plan Announced to Erase 35 Years of Endangered Species Protection

Dear X,

This week Dirk Kempthorne, secretary of the Interior,
announced devastating changes to the Endangered Species
Act, signaling the end of protection or thousands of
imperiled species.

The Center for Biological Diversity is rallying an immense
surge of opposition to prevent these changes from taking effect.

Tell Secretary Kempthorne what you think of his plans to
pillage the Endangered Species Act

Under the current regulations, federal agencies must consult
with scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National
Marine Fisheries Service to determine whether a project is
likely to harm endangered species or habitat.

The new regulations would ...

* exempt thousands of federal activities from review under
the Endangered Species Act
* eliminate checks and balances of independent oversight
* limit which effects can be considered harmful
* prevent consideration of a project's contribution to global warming
* set an inadequate 60-day deadline for wildlife experts to
evaluate a project in the instances when they are invited to
participate - or else the project gets an automatic green light
* enable large-scale projects to go unreviewed by dividing
them into hundreds of small projects.

In addition, last week Kempthorne and Bush tried to slip
another proposed rule change under the radar that would
limit protection of a species only to where it is currently
found.

Under the current rule a species has protection in its entire
historical range. However many endangered species have
lost substantial portions of that range. For example;
under the proposed changes, prior to being reintroduced,
the California condor would only have been listed in zoos.

And, because these regulations are administrative and not
legislative, they won't need the approval of Congress.

We must stop Kempthorne from fatally crippling our nation's
most successful wildlife law.

Join the Center for Biological Diversity's effort to stop
Kempthorne dead in his tracks. Send a message to
Kempthorne by clicking here ... DemocracyinAction

Sincerely,

Kieran Suckling
Executive Director
Center for Biological Diversity

******************************************


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