Prof. Zygmunt Plater (Law)
BC Law Professor Leads Effort to Preserve Endangered Species Act
Prof. Zygmunt Plater works to stop changes to environmental protections
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When Prof. Zygmunt Plater (Law) saw changes the Bush Administration recently proposed to the national Endangered Species Act (ESA), he felt he couldn't stand by.Plater, after all, quite literally wrote the book on advocacy and environmental law, Environmental Law and Policy, Nature Law and Society. And it was his argument before the Supreme Court in 1978 that helped to define the power of the ESA.
According to Plater, the Bush Administration ESA proposals would, in addition to removing third-party scientific review of construction projects that impinge on threatened species, narrow the scope of review to a proposed construction site, not the surrounding area that may be environmentally affected.
"These amendments would change 22 years of established regulation," said Plater. "It was consciously designed at the last minute, in the waning months of an administration that has been hesitant to implement the protections of the Endangered Species Act."
So over the last month, Plater and his research assistant, Toby Bannon,'10, reached out to the nation's environmental law faculty to join him in opposing the changes. Some 120, including scholars from Harvard, Columbia, Stanford and Cal-Berkeley, signed on — as many as 30 or more are expected to follow suit in the next few weeks — to help create a 61-page document that asks tough questions about the administration's proposals and sets the stage for a possible legal challenge.
Affectionately referred to as "The Rump," Plater's lengthy document could set the stage for a confrontation with the Bush Administration between the Oct. 10 submission date and Jan. 20, when a new administration is sworn in.
Plater and other environmental law scholars say the changes need to be considered in context with President Bush's environmental record. In his eight years, Bush has only added 58 new endangered species to the national listing of protected species, compared to 231 by George H.W. Bush and more than 300 by Bill Clinton.
In a Washington Post interview, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne defended the new rules, saying they would "narrow regulatory change" to "provide clarity and certainty to the consultation process under the Endangered Species Act."
Plater and other environmentalists believe the ESA should remain as is.
"In my mind when I teach students, its not just questions of fact and law, but we have to be able to be straightforward on the political context," said Plater. "Acknowledge it. Not so it takes over your argument, but so you can show the context. Context, often, is everything."
The 60-day comment period (Plater and his colleagues successfully petitioned to extend a 30-day comment period) expires in mid-October. After that time, the Bush Administration will have to answer all concerns presented before the Department of Interior moves forward.
What happens after that is unclear, depending on who is in power. But Plater and others stand ready to revisit the Supreme Court.
"This is a case where I and other law professors looked at each other and said to ourselves we have to do something," Plater said. "We couldn't do it alone and hope to make enough noise to make sure that people notice what is going on here."
Melissa Beecher can be reached at melissa.beecher@bc.edu