Oregon suing over Endangered Species Act rules

State takes initiative in overturning "midnight" Bush administration regulations.

Oregon is suing the Bush administration over its “midnight rules” attempting to rewrite the Endangered Species Act, Gov. Ted Kulongoski announced Thursday.

The lawsuit, to be filed Friday in California, joins with that state’s attempt to block the rules from taking effect in the final days of the Bush administration before President-elect Barack Obama’s swearing in Tuesday.

Kulongoski said Oregon’s objections include both the manner in which the outgoing federal administration undertook the rule changes and the legal effects of weakening the way agencies and other parties consult to determine how the wildlife protection law should be applied to proposed logging, mining, development, and other actions.

The governor told reporters that he was troubled by the president’s attempt through the rule changes “to deny the effects of climate change” by effectively prohibiting the consideration of carbon dioxide emissions’ contributions to global warming when deciding on steps to protect endangered or threatened species.

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger, who joined Kulongoski at the announcement, said that change would have a profound effect on species protection efforts in the future. For example, such emissions could not be taken into consideration when trying to protect an important polar bear habitat: the melting ice floes in Alaskan waters.

In addition, Oregon is taking two separate legal actions against the Bush administration, the two officials announced. The state petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals to review the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision to license a liquefied natural gas terminal in northwest Oregon. And Oregon is challenging a Health and Human Services regulation making it virtually impossible for Oregon to enforce a state law requiring the availability of em contraception to rape victims.

Kroger said the legal challenges were not based on policy disagreements between Oregon’s Democratically controlled state government and the outgoing Republican administration. Rather, he said Oregon was challenging the midnight rules because they violate existing federal laws and negatively impact Oregon.