http://action.sierraclub.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=95061.0

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2009

Contact: Kristina Johnson
415.977.5619

          Senate Votes to Scrap Bush-era Endangered Species Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Senate voted down an amendment aimed at
keeping Bush-era endangered species regulations on the books.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would give
the Obama administration 60 days to withdraw endangered species regulations
pushed through by the Bush administration in its last days in office. On
Tuesday, President Obama announced he would restore the protections that
the Bush rules sought to remove.

The Bush regulations removed requirements that independent federal experts
be consulted on projects that could harm endangered species, and included a
loophole designed to prevent agencies from addressing global warming, even
when it has been identified as a threat to the survival of a species like
the polar bear.

However, today, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Senator Mark Begich
(D-Alaska) offered an amendment to the 2009 omnibus spending bill that
would have clogged the process and prevented overhaul of the Bush
regulations.

The Senate voted 52-42 against the amendment.

           Statement of Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope

The President, the House of Representatives, and the Senate have shown that
they all agree on the importance of protecting America's wildlife for
future generations.

For thirty years the Endangered Species Act has helped bring wildlife like
the bald eagle back from the brink of extinction. President Bush's attack
on endangered species protections would have made it much harder to help
animals like the bald eagle survive.

President Obama has shown his commitment to restoring and strengthening the
regulations that have protected wildlife for decades. By supporting him,
the Senate has sent a clear signal that science, rather than special
interests, should rule decisions affecting our nation's wildlife. Tossing
out the Bush rules will bring wildlife biologists back into the process of
deciding how to manage our most threatened animals.

Kristina Johnson
Deputy Press Secretary
Sierra Club
Office: (415) 977-5619
Cell: (541) 914-9744
85 Second Street - 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105-3459
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