Protect endangered species

Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008 | 2:05 a.m.

The Bush administration won’t come right out and say it, but it detests the Endangered Species Act. It views the 35-year-old federal law as a nuisance, something that gets in the way of highways, dams and parking lots.

On President Bush’s list of national priorities, the protection of plants and animals is somewhere near the bottom.

That was made clear Monday when the administration, represented by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, proposed that enforcement of the law be left up to individual federal agencies. The way it is now, any plans, such as those for construction projects, must be reviewed by scientists and other experts at the federal Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The administration proposal would eliminate those independent reviews, allowing agencies instead to make those determinations on their own. The problem, of course, is that most other agencies don’t have their own wildlife and habitat scientists. That’s why we have a wildlife service and a fisheries service. After more than seven years in office President Bush still hasn’t figured that out.

Independent scientific reviews as allowed under current law are there for a reason. If the law didn’t exist, agencies under pressure to show results would simply rubber stamp projects. Wildlife and fisheries scientists help ensure that species aren’t wiped out because of reckless development.

The Endangered Species Act has proved over time that there is room for both species preservation and development, despite gripes from developers that the law costs them money. But the Bush administration threatens to tilt that delicate balance too far in favor of construction projects. The agencies should not be allowed to trample on threatened and endangered plants and animals simply to meet project deadlines.

If the proposed administrative changes are allowed to take effect, the law will be in danger of becoming toothless. The result, undoubtedly, would be the extinction of countless species that are now just barely surviving.