Obama overturns another Bush environmental rule

On Tuesday the new Obama administration overturned a piece of legislature put in place by Bush just before leaving office, that may have left endangered species threatened by commercial activities.

This move has been applauded by environmentalists.

Before leaving office Bush eradicated a double check procedure in which the government’s top scientists and biologists had to analyse any federal move that could potentially harm an endangered species of animal or plant variety.

The Obama administration has placed this rule back into effect to give the federal Endangered Species Act more precedence again in major environmental decisions.

Under the reinstituted law federal agencies must consult the US Fish and Wildlife Service as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration before they can begin a project or take action that can harm species that are classified as endangered or threatened.

While environmental advocates are happy, they are dismayed that there has not been an action yet by Obama to once again protect the endangered polar bears which are affected by another rule change created by Bush in the same time period.

Concern was raised over the fact that currently there is no regulation in place to protect polar bears from global warming, as they are not protected from global warming activities that are not directly related to the Arctic.

CO2 emissions are the major concern, as current legislation does not curb emissions outside the Arctic which contribute to global warming and melting sea ice, which is an essential component of the polar bears’ habitat.