Endangered Species Act is safe and sound

Tom O’Farrell, Boulder City

Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008 | 2:04 a.m.

Contrary to the hyperbole in an editorial in Thursday’s Las Vegas Sun, the Endangered Species Act is alive and well. The proposed minor changes in the implementing regulations will not threaten the existence of the act or make it “toothless,” nor will they result in the “extinction of countless species.”

Federal agencies have always been legally responsible for making independent judgments about their proposed actions, but are obliged to consult with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, or the National Marine Fisheries Service, only on those projects that might affect listed species.

The proposed changes will not eliminate this link for proposed actions that might cause an adverse impact. They will eliminate the need to consult on projects that will affect protected species in either a positive or a neutral way. The changes will also relieve agencies from considering potential impacts that can’t be reasonably linked to their actions or are not reasonably certain to occur.

This is hardly a revolutionary change because it is based on common sense and years of case law. Dale Hall, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, provided the rationale for the proposed changes when he said, “We are not being good stewards of our resources when we pursue consultation in situations where the potential effects to a species are either unlikely, incapable of being meaningfully evaluated, wholly beneficial, or pose only a remote risk of causing jeopardy to the species or its habitat.”

The Sun’s editorial does a disservice to the numerous environmental scientists working in the Las Vegas Valley for the Energy Department, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the Forest Service and the Bureau of Reclamation who review their agency actions in the spirit and letter of the law every day. All of the science and expertise regarding the law isn’t confined to the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.