When you read a headline like that, you have to say, “What the heck does that mean?” I’ll tell you what it might mean and then you can decide for yourself.
Remember when the Bush administration, including Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, last year decided, in what I perceived as an ignorant move, to place the polar bear as a “threatened” species under the Endangered Species Act? In so doing, the government essentially agreed with the environmental extremists and global warming alarmists that polar bears are at risk because of man-made global warming.
The next stupid thing the Bush administration did was make an attempt at changing the rules in the middle of the game. How childish is that? What they did was say, “There, we’ve place the polar bear on THE list (I hope that makes you happy) but you can’t use any claims that environmental projects will affect the polar bear.” What that was supposed to mean is that if someone in East Overshoe wants to build a new coal-fired power plant, you can’t deny the project because the emissions from the plant might further harm the polar bear.
Anyone with half a brain knew that would hold no water. It’s a classic example of how science, including wildlife science, is scared to death of the environmentalists and have no backbone to deal with them. Consequently science is no longer viable and effective in dealing with such matters.
Moving up to the present, we now have a far left administration running this country and it is bent on reversing anything and everything President Bush did, if for no other reason than for hateful spite. Just the other day the U.S. Senate voted 52-42 (I wonder where the other 6 senators where.) to rescind the action of the previous administration. Now, prepare for the enviros to line up at the court house in attempts to stop any and all construction projects they don’t like. And that’s only the beginning.
What essentially has happened is that the polar bear is now the largest, most powerful instrument that has ever existed and it lies at the disposal of the environmental community. And in case you haven’t figured it out yet, this isn’t about saving the polar bear. It’s about gaining control.
How extreme will the actions become? That’s really anyone’s guess but the potential is there. Hugh Hewitt, Townhall contributor, former ESA lawyer under the Reagan administration and current private ESA/Environmental lawyer, says that any federal permit could be challenged in court.
When a final spending bill passes next week or the week thereafter, the polar bear will be just another endangered species, and any federal permit that can be argued to impact the species –say by allowing greenhouse gases to be emitted in greater quantities in connection with offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico– will have to pass through a “consultation” with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Environmental groups can sue to force such consultations. Such consultations are very expensive and time consuming, and while the polar bear’s huge shadow on the lower 48 will be very good for my law practice, it will be very bad for an economy in recession.
We have learned over the years that the courts overwhelmingly fall on the side of environmentalists and a lot of the reason for that has come from “interpreting” the Endangered Species Act. This is why I favor reform of the Act but that’s another day.
Everyone wants to protect the polar bear but there are many scientists who say the bear doesn’t need anymore protection than it had before it was listed as threatened. The Bush move was bad and now coupled with this recent vote in the Senate, don’t be surprised when you read in the press or see on television about the first lawsuit demanding enforcement of the Endangered Species Act because of the effects of man-made global warming.
With a small percentage of President Obama’s “stimulus” bill directed at construction, one has to wonder if any of these projects will be held up because of this vote.
How far will it go and where will it end up?
Tom Remington
