From "Earth Day" to "Earth Night"

Republican former Congressman Pete McCloskey (he represented San Mateo County, Calif., from 1968-1982), writing on the anti-environmentalism of the Bush administration, particularly its attempts to undermine or circumvent the Endangered Species Act:

"...The administration has stopped designating 'critical habitat' for listed [protected] species except under court order. It has stopped adding to the list of threatened and endangered species unless ordered to do so by a judge. It has moved to exempt the Forest Service from abiding by the law on the pretext of fire prevention. It is working to weaken the requirement that endangered species be protected from pesticides.

"And that list barely scratches the surface. The assault on the law is widespread and relentless.

"The administration and its comrades in arms argue that the law is ineffective, expensive and in need of drastic overhaul. In truth, they are acting as agents for the timber industry, the mining industry, land developers, big agriculture and other economic interests that sometimes find their profits slightly decreased in the short run by the need to obey this law...."

Read the rest of McCloskey's column, which first appeared in the Los Angeles Times, by clicking here.