Bush Administration Faces Endangered Species Lawsuits

The saga continues. Environmental groups filed the newest wave of lawsuits against the Bush administration last week. Citing political interference, activists charged the administrations with complete failure to protect 13 imperiled species. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, suits were filed in Southern California, Oregon, New Mexico and North Carolina.

Since November, politicians and environmental groups have issued a slew of official complaints against the Bush administration and its environmental agencies. Advocates have charged the EPA with failure to combat global warming through sufficient limits on tailpipe emissions. In early December, California's attorney general, Jerry Brown, four states and three environmental groups petitioned for limits on commercial air travel emissions. Last week, Brown called out Bush’s energy efficiency test flunk.

In yesterday’s filings, groups such as Earthjustice and the Center for Biological Diversity prosecuted the Bush administration on “political corruption” — officials reportedly rewrote scientific reports to align with industry and ideological interests, rather than the stricture of the Endangered Species Act. Angry and empowered, the groups claim they are just getting started and plan to continue to sue to obtain safeguards for an additional 55 species. The Fish and Wildlife Service has already acknowledged that some of its decisions were politically manipulated, and vowed to re-evaluated the protections for certain endangered species.

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