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200,000 Letters In 32 Hours?

Started by washingtonindependent · 8 months ago

In what looks like an effort to rush through proposed rules to overhaul the Endangered Species Act, the Interior Dept. has said it plans on reviewing 200,000 public comments in just 32 hours, according to The Associated Press.
The agency actually received… ... Continue reading »

2 comments

  • Jon

    8 months ago

    One more item to add to the recap: On Sept. 24th, Assistant Secretary of Interior Lyle Laverty was scheduled to appear before the Senate Environment and Public Works committee to discuss the proposal, but he bailed out at the last minute. He told the committee he couldn't get his testimony approved by higher ups, though an Interior spokesperson said he canceled at the request of the ranking minority member, who led a republican boycott of the hearing.
    reply
  • iwilker

    8 months ago

    Interesting insight from Andrew Wetzler, a lawyer and ESA expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, on his blog:

    Having the Department of Interior, rather than the Fish and Wildlife Service, respond to the comments is consistent with some informal conversations I’ve had with Agency personnel, who told me that the scientists and policy experts at the Fish and Wildlife Service were not consulted on these proposed rule changes and would not be taking any role in analyzing them. Reading between the lines a bit, it sounded to me that the Service’s career employees were none to happy about the proposal or the Administration’s failure to run it through normal channels. Put another way, these rule changes are almost entirely the product of political appointees at the Department of the Interior and it looks like the Bush Administration is determined to keep it that way.



    Wetzler's been a really good source on this issue.
    reply

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