The Interior Department has just finalized the rules which change the way the Endangered Species Act is administered. From now on, other government agencies will decide on their own whether a project would harm an imperiled species without an independent scientific review. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said that this move is “a clarification” he considers essential in order to narrow the law's reach. Agencies can now bypass a review by either the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration only under certain conditions.

Of course, even if the agencies can build dams, roads or other project, they must still take into account the consequences, as the loss of an imperiled species carries legal penalties. These decisions come one day after the Environmental Protection Agency dropped two other controversial rules changes, stating that they've come too late in President Bush's term. The agency received nearly 235,000 comments on the endangered species proposal, at least 208,000 of which were letters decrying the rule. Congressional Democrats and environmentalists sharply criticized the administration for the Interior Department action.

However, environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and Defenders of Wildlife, filed suit in federal court in an attempt to block the rule. Legal scholars said that, given the imminent arrival of a Democratic administration, the change is vulnerable to quick reversal. Others, like the property rights advocates, applauded the decision, saying that the Endangered Species Act has been the opposite of an economic stimulus. It remains to be seen how the rule will be modified once the new president takes his place.