What about Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne? Or any other federal agency political appointee accused of putting the White House and industry before environmental science?

Yesterday Kempthorne announced an executive change to the Endangered Species Act: federal agencies will replace independent scientific review panels as the source for decisions affecting everything from endangered species to air pollution. The rule is pending a 30-day comment period.

The Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin reports that affected projects include the Interior Dept. now determining if a dam or highway project threatens an endangered animal. The Environmental Protection Agency, currently manned by Stephen "Stonewall" Johnson, could, for example, determine if a new power plant didn’t give off too much greenhouse gas emissions.

The scientific review panels, under the Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service, aren’t infallible. But this seems like the worst time to get rid of a check on ecologically-oriented agencies after they’ve politicized everything from ozone to the polar bear.-MB

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