OBAMA: PRO-ENDANGERED SPECIES

On Tuesday March 3rd President Obama celebrated the 160th anniversary of the Interior Department and overturned, to be completely blunt, yet another pointless and stupid ruling which was passed by the Bush Administration that undoubtedly weakened the Endangered Species Act which has been protecting wildlife, both endangered plants and animals, since 1973.
Under Bush's regulation, federal agencies would no longer have to clear any projects with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Services that could affect wildlife, but rather if those agencies deduced that their projects wouldn't harm any endangered species than it was okay for them to push forward rather than consulting with scientists.
Now President Bush hasn't exactly been an advocator for advancements in science which is obviously noted with his actions to halt stem cell research, but it almost seems like he hates natural sciences and the preservation of such fields when he does things like pass regulations that create potential unnecessary evils for the wildlife that is already dying off the way it is. It's not that George W. Bush is a bad guy per say, it's just that he prefers the concrete jungle to the real deal. Maybe he's intimidated by the Lion King who rules fiercely with no objection and is just trying to steal some of his thunder for his own Presidency. But wait, that doesn't seem to make any sense being that he passed this regulation only weeks before his way out the door back to his good ole' ranch where he is sure to have control over any and all wildlife that crosses his path. Maybe this was his last attempt to piss off anyone who still wasn't mad at the Bush administration for our involvements overseas or the economic crisis and George W. Bush's own denial of recession or what have u. So as so many Americans face struggle, why not the happy, furry little critters in the woodwork too? One doesn't need to be an environmentalist to see what is wrong with federal agency bureaucrats regulating themselves and grading their own projects as environmentally friendly or not rather than the scientists whose job it is to make that decision. How does it make any sense to skip consultations with the people who are educated and passionate about the protection of endangered species and give federal agencies freedom to structure projects as they please? Well it doesn't make any sense as President Obama has pointed out by overturning the regulation.
President Obama is well aware of the divide between those in favor of profiting off of natural resources and those wanting to conserve those resources for future generations. But he also thinks this divide is pointless by referring to it as a 'false choice', and believes that one does not need to be sacrificed for the other.

Whitney Roper
Wilkes University '11
Communications