Obama's endangered species ruling could allow climate legal action

President Obama took another step towards regulating carbon this week, calling on agency officials to review changes to the Endangered Species Act imposed during the last months of the Bush adminstration that limit the prospect of climate change-related legal action against carbon intensive projects. Rule 50 CR Part 402 eliminated a requirement under the Endangered Species Act for agencies to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) or National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). These Agencies, which fall under the Department of the Interior, are responsible for ensuring that the Act is upheld. The rule, which was listed in the Federal Registry on December 16 and came into force on January 15, just days ahead of Obama's inauguration, not only removed this requirement for many cases, but also explicitly dismissed any connection between climate change and endangered species, on the grounds that "effects of such action are manifested through global processes and cannot be reliably predicted or measured at the scale of a listed species' current range". Obama's transition team had already vowed to reverse such environmental regulations, which were designed in part to stop environmental groups from using the Endangered Species Act as a carbon regulation tool. For example, some green groups had been investigating using the climate change-related threat to the Polar Bear posed by the disappearance of its habitat to underpin legal action against carbon intensive industries...Business Green