Chamber Commends Kempthorne's Clarification on Endangered Species Act Process

Washington D.C. –The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today commended Interior Secretary Dick Kempthorne's proposed rule changes to clarify the use of the consultation process surrounding the application of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to the literally thousands of federal actions that may be subject to consultation under the Act.

"1986 was the last time the relationship between ESA and the consultation process was discussed and the world was not then discussing the impact of greenhouse gases on the environment. Since then some have argued that any federal action anywhere has the potential to generate greenhouse gases and therefore, the consultation process should be applied to every federal action. That is just a ridiculous concept that would literally paralyze the ability of the federal government to move forward with projects," said William L. Kovacs, Chamber Vice President for Environment, Technology and Regulatory Affairs.

"To address this huge bureaucratic nightmare and gross waste of federal resources, the Secretary is providing clear guidance to his agency as to when the Endangered Species Act consultation process must be used. By mandating that it must be used when the potential impacts are reasonable likely to occur but not requiring it when the potential impacts are unlikely, the Secretary has made a commonsense decision that greatly assists Department staff on the use of precious federal resources," Kovacs continued.

"Every year the federal government issues over 4000 new regulations that join the already existing 102,000 regulations. Within this massive regulatory maze of complex and costly mandates, it is reassuring to find someone in Washington willing to exercise commonsense. By making this clear distinction between the use of consultations for reasonably likely impacts but not mandating consultations in situations where impact is unlikely, the Secretary is bringing efficiency and rationality to the rulemaking process," concluded Kovacs.

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

www.uschamber.com

# # #