Bush EPA Loss is Your Win -- Celebrate!

Ruling that the Bush administration "plainly violated" the Endangered Species Act, a federal judge overturned a regulation Thursday that streamlined approval of pesticides by eliminating reviews by wildlife officials responsible for protecting rare animals and plants.

The judge restored pre-2004 standards requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to consult federal wildlife biologists before licensing pesticides.

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"Up to now, EPA's track record in addressing the effects of pesticides on endangered species has been abysmal," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service and now executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife, a plaintiff in the case. "Instead of solving the problem, they simply weakened the rules…. The court has put a stop to that."