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SSPA Professor John Freemuth commented on the ESA in a Sunday story about proposed changes to the law. To read the complete article visit the Idaho Statesman website.

Proposed reform to Endangered Species Act gets cool response

It would give federal officials more leeway when dealing with wildlife agencies and is similar to a plan Kempthorne pushed as a senator. Now that he heads Interior under Bush, fewer seem willing to compromise.

BY ROCKY BARKER - rbarker[at]idahostatesman[dot]com
Edition Date: 08/17/08

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne returned to Washington, D.C., with a history of bringing environmentalists and business interests together in searching for a way to reform the federal Endangered Species Act.

But when he announced that he and the Bush administration want to change the rules to give agencies more flexibility to bypass scientific oversight in ESA decisions, no environmentalist stepped forward to defend him.

The rules proposed last week aren’t all that different from what Kempthorne tried to do as a senator. What has changed is where they are perceived to be coming from - and that could make a huge difference.

More than a decade ago, then-Sen. Kempthorne worked to forge a compromise reform bill that gained some momentum - but never passed - in 1996 and 1997.

He wanted to streamline the relationships between the federal agencies that operate dams, approve power plants and harvest timber and the agencies that ensure federal operations don’t jeopardize the existence of fish and wildlife.

The idea attracted support from both sides of the aisle in the Senate and even the Clinton administration. But now that Kempthorne is the face of the Bush administration on environmental issues, his own past and reputation may not matter.

Michael J. Bean was one of the environmentalists who worked with Kempthorne in the 1990s. Today, he has joined a united chorus from an environmental community that universally characterized the new proposed rules as a threat to hundreds of endangered species.

“This disastrous proposal makes about as much sense as eliminating homeland security at airports,” said Bean, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund. “Sure, it would make air travel more convenient, but it would put passengers at greater risk, just as this proposal would put wildlife at greater risk.”

KEMPTHORNE STARTED FROM A TOUGH SPOT

Early in his Interior tenure, Kempthorne sought out some of his former Democratic colleagues, looking to see whether together they could resume the effort to reform the ESA.

But he had an uphill battle.

By the time Kempthorne arrived back in Washington in 2006, the Bush administration already had lost its credibility on the Endangered Species Act, said John Freemuth, a Boise State University professor and fellow at the Andrus Center for Public Policy.

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