Dear Editor,
Just before leaving office, the Bush administration eviscerated the central consultation process of the Endangered Species Act ‘mdash; exempting greenhouse gas-emitting projects from regulation ‘mdash; and banned federal agencies from protecting the polar bear from greenhouse gas emissions, the primary threat to its continued existence. These rules gut our nation’s most important wildlife protection law, and we’ve failed to use this law to fight the greatest future threat to endangered species ‘mdash; global warming.
On March 11, President Barack Obama signed into law an appropriations bill giving Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar 60 days to rescind the Bush rules with the stroke of a pen and restore the Endangered Species Act to its former glory. As global citizens, we must urge Salazar to do what is right and take the first steps in repairing the environmental damage of the Bush administration by immediately rescinding the Endangered Species Act regulations by May 9. Call Salazar today at (202) 208-7351 and go to Savethepolarbear.org to send him a letter. The survival of endangered species across the planet depends on it.