by Samantha Young,
Associated Press Writer
Casper
Star Tribune
31 December 2008
SACRAMENTO,
Calif. -- California has filed suit against the Bush
administration to block last-minute endangered species regulations
that are intended to reduce input from federal scientists,
Attorney General Jerry Brown announced Tuesday.
Brown
said the president is trying to gut the Endangered Species Act
before he leaves office next month.
"Unfortunately,
the Bush administration has had an antipathy to using sound
science," Brown said Tuesday in a telephone interview with
The Associated Press. "This is the latest assault as Bush
goes out the door. It's intolerable."
The
state's lawsuit was filed late Monday in U.S. District Court in
San Francisco.
The
Interior Department issued the revised rules earlier this month.
They allow federal agencies to issue permits for mining, logging
and similar activities without getting a review from federal
wildlife biologists.
The
changes also block agencies from using the Endangered Species Act
to consider the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on ecosystems
when reviewing projects such as new roads or coal plants on
federal land.
Interior
Department spokeswoman Tina Kreisher declined to comment on the
California lawsuit. She said the revised rules will continue to
protect threatened and endangered species.
"The
law says that all federal agencies will ensure that no take occurs
of a listed species whatever it is they are doing," she said.
Brown is
asking the court to block the new rules, which could give the
incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama time to
review them.
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