December, 11 2008, 02:20pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity,
(503) 484-7495 cell
Cat Lazaroff, Defenders of Wildlife, 202-365-1329 cell
Jane
Kochersperger, Greenpeace, (202) 680-3798 cell
Bush Administration Finalizes Regulations Gutting Protections for Nation's Endangered Species
Conservation Groups File Immediate Challenge to 11th Hour Reductions in Protections for Nation’s Wildlife
SAN FRANCISCO
Secretary of the Interior
Dirk Kempthorne today finalized regulations that would eviscerate our
nation's most successful wildlife law by exempting thousands of federal
activities, including those that generate greenhouse gases, from review under
the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
"The regulations that were finalized today undermine
fundamental protections for the nation's endangered species," said
Noah Greenwald, biodiversity program director of the Center for Biological
Diversity. "We hope an Obama administration or Congress will act quickly
to undo this 11th hour attempt to weaken our most important law for
protecting wildlife."
The Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, and
Defenders of Wildlife immediately filed suit in the Northern District of
California to stop the regulations, arguing that they violated the Endangered
Species Act and did not go through the required public review process.
First proposed on August 11th, the Bush administration rushed the
regulations through an abbreviated process in which over 300,000 comments from
the public were reviewed in 2-3 weeks, and environmental impacts were analyzed
in a short and cursory environmental assessment, rather than a fuller environmental
impact statement.
"This is a clear example of a lame duck administration
ramming through weakened regulations that are opposed by Congress and the
public," said Greenwald. "When the survival of species hangs
in the balance, public policy should not be rushed."
"This administration's disdain for wildlife and
the environment has never been more clear than it is today," said Jamie
Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife and former
director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. "For 35 years, the Endangered
Species Act has helped save and recover imperiled wildlife on the brink of
extinction. Now, with this administration facing its last days, they are doing
everything they can to cement their anti-environmental legacy before the Obama
administration takes office."
Under current regulations, federal agencies must consult
with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service if the agencies permit, fund, or
otherwise carry out actions that "may affect" endangered species,
or if the Service has already determined those actions adversely affect
endangered species. Under the new regulations, federal agencies will themselves
determine whether their actions are likely to adversely affect endangered
species. That finding would in turn determine whether the agency must consult
with the Fish and Wildlife Service.
"These regulations are a recipe for the extinction of
endangered species," said Greenwald. "It's a classic example
of letting the fox guard the henhouse. It would allow thousands of projects
that harm endangered species to move forward without mitigation."
The policy would also prohibit any consideration of the
impacts of greenhouse gas emissions from federal projects on endangered
species. Greenhouse gas emissions are currently predicted to result in
loss of half the world's polar bear population by 2050. If
today's proposed policy is enacted, the agency will not be able to
consider and mitigate such impacts.
"Members of the Bush administration have finally
admitted that greenhouse gas emissions are driving species like the polar bear
to extinction, yet they are doing everything in their power to ensure that
these emissions are not regulated or reduced," said Carroll Muffett,
deputy campaign director of Greenpeace USA.
The groups are represented by Eric Glitzenstein at Meyer,
Glitzenstein and Crystal
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"Americans, you won't have healthcare, Medicaid, public schools, nursing homes, rural hospitals, or SNAP," said one critic. "But, you'll get UFC fights on the White House lawn. America F-Yeah!"
Jul 05, 2025
Critics of President Donald Trump's announcement of a planned Ultimate Fighting Championship event on White House grounds to celebrate the United States Semiquincentennial next year took to social media Friday to call the proposal something "straight out of 'Idiocracy'"—the comedy cult classic about a dumbed-down 26th-century America—and condemn what one detractor called "authoritarian theater."
"Every one of our national park battlefields and historic sites are going to have special events in honor of America 250," Trump said at the Iowa State Fairgrounds Thursday. "We're going to have a UFC fight—think of this—on the grounds of the White House."
Yearning for a time when every new day isn't exponentially dumber than the day before.
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— Dave Vetter (@davidrvetter.bsky.social) July 4, 2025 at 2:57 AM
While Octagon aficionados cheered the prospect of a 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue fight card, many observers couldn't help but notice parallels with the plot of Mike Judge's 2006 film "Idiocracy," a satirical skewering of issues including the erosion of White House decorum in a future when IQs have plummeted and a sports drink corporation owns the country, whose voters elect Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho, "five-time ultimate smackdown champion and porn superstar," as president.
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Yet another social media critic joked that "'Idiocracy' was actually a documentary from the future, sent back in time as a warning to us all."
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As catastrophic flooding left scores of people dead and missing in Texas Hill Country and President Donald Trump celebrated signing legislation that will eviscerate every aspect of federal efforts to address the climate emergency, officials in the Lone Star State blasted the National Weather Service—one of many agencies gutted by the Department of Government Efficiency—for issuing faulty forecasts that some observers blamed for the flood's high death toll.
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After media reports & experts warned for months that drastic & sudden cuts at the Nat Weather Service by Trump could impair their forecasting ability & endanger lives during the storm season, TX officials blame an inaccurate forecast by NWS for the deadly results of the flood.
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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) July 5, 2025 at 3:19 AM
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Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice also said during the press conference that the storm "dumped more rain than what was forecasted" into two forks of the Guadalupe River.
Kerr County judge Rob Kelly told CBS News: "We had no reason to believe that this was gonna be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever."
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