CO EMISSIONS AND IMPERILED SPECIES

Abstract

IN THREE MEMOS released this month, the Environmental Protection Agency and two federal wildlife agencies contend that when making regulatory decisions they need not consider the climate-change impact on endangered species. Specifically, the memos address carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. The memos support recent Bush Administration statements and proposed regulatory changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that would block the Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service from considering the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from a single large CO 2 source on endangered species. This is a sharp reversal for the wildlife agencies, says Kassie Siegel, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group. “Under ESA, agencies that approve large sources of greenhouse gas emissions must analyze the impact of these emissions just like they analyze anything else that impacts endangered species,” she says. The memos have limited regulatory aut...