For years, we noted the failure of George W. Bush to follow the law when it came to the Endangered Species Act. That law requires that petitions for the listing of a species as either threatened or endangered must be responded to within 90 days with an initial determination of the value of the petition. Then, within one year of the petitioning, the government is required to issue a statement determining whether the species is worthy of listing under the Endangered Species Act. One year after a positive determination, the species must be officially listed, and protections go into effect.
George W. Bush ignored this law, and now, Barack Obama, President Change, is doing the same. This week, the Center for Biological Diversity has filed suit against the Obama Administration because of an illegal 144 species backlog. Petitions for these species were filed long ago, but President Obama, just like President Bush, has shoved the petitions off into a dark, forgotten corner.
This isn’t just an environmental issue. It’s an issue of the rule of law. Barack Obama, like Bush before him, seems to believe that he only needs to follow the law when it’s politically convenient or logistically easy for him to do so. I support the lawsuit from the Center for Biological Diversity because of my concern that respect for the rule of law itself has become endangered.
green man, we have to save tiger before we can save any of the other 144 backlogged species.
don’t you watch CNN? this is high profile stuff.