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Greens say Bush is deaf to plight of environment

Bald eagles, wolves, snails, butterflies and many other species native to the US have long been at risk. Many have made it on to the country's endangered species list, but not under the administration of US President George W. Bush over the last two years.

Conservation groups claim that Bush appointees have been deliberately making it harder to designate animals and plants as endangered, and have launched a series of lawsuits. Administration officials admit that there are about 280 species waiting to be added to the list.

Former president George Bush designated 231 species as endangered or threatened in his single term. In former president Bill Clinton's eight years 521 species were designated as endangered. President Bush has designated 59 in seven years, and none in the last two since Dirk Kempthorne became secretary of the interior.

Conservation group Sierra says Kempthorne, a former senator and head of a housing development group, is biased in favor of commercial interests.

The lack of urgency in the US comes against a background of concern worldwide. That fear was summed up last year by the Red List of the World Conservation Union, an environmental network. Its list defined 16,306 species as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered.
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