While the federal government, specifically the administration of President George W. Bush, may not be watching out for the environment, it is somewhat comforting to know that at least our state’s attorney general, Jerry Brown, does.
Late last year, the Bush administration made new provisions to the Endangered Species Act that changed the 1973 law to get rid of any scientific review of a federal project if such review would cause the project to slow down. While the Bush administration has argued that the changes were needed to speed up work on projects around the country, the effect of the changes will be instead to harm wildlife around the country. In response, Brown has filed a lawsuit to get these provisions overturned by the courts.
Indeed, scientific review of federal projects are needed so that the government has all the facts when deciding if it should go ahead with some highway project or plans to build a new energy plant, and Brown is right to ensure the process of scientific review stays intact.
In eliminating the review of these projects the Bush administration is not doing away with what they truly think will speed up the development process the most. Rather, they are catering to a small group of business lobbyists who are simply annoyed by the fact that science gets in the way of developments that will make them money.
This board applauds Brown’s efforts and hopes that the court will see the need to overturn the provisions in question.
Unsigned editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily Bruin Editorial Board.