This petition calls for the repeal of The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) current proposal to amend the formats of the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants to include current practices and standards that has recently appeared on the Federal Register Docket. tinyurl.com/4lgn36 The proposed reformatting will make the regulations and Lists easier for the public to understand and when this proposed rule change is finalized then the Service will publish the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants in their entirety in the new formats. The Lists represent the official Government record of which species are listed and where they are considered listed under the ESA. Over time, we have noted numerous anomalies in the Lists, including ambiguous entries and confusing format and column titles. After detailed research on the origin, history, and purpose of the Lists, we determined that the format, references, and standards need to be updated. This rule is designed to address these observed problems and propose corrections to enhance the clarity of the lists. http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EP... The Endangered Species Coalition warns that: "The proposed rule changes the formatting of the lists of threatened and endangered species and narrowly defines 'the geographic area where the species is listed for purposes of the Act.' This deceptively simple change could be interpreted to limit the area that endangered species will be protected only to their current range, which is usually drastically smaller than their historic range." "The proposed rule also changes the explanation of the 'historic range' column entries in the lists of threatened and endangered wildlife and plants to undo the longstanding practice of treating all members of any species, subspecies or population on those lists as subject to the prohibitions of the Act." "The proposed regulatory changes came out in the eleventh hour of the Bush administration. They are trying every trick in the book to rewrite a bedrock environmental law without alerting the American public to what they are trying to do," explained Coalition director Leda Huta. tinyurl.com/3ta9fn Defenders of Wildlife vice president Jamie Rappaport in congressional testimony posits that: "The practical effect of the proposed format revisions, however, would be to codify the legal conclusions of a Solicitor Opinion dated March 16, 2007, and put into force significant and substantive changes to the long-settled understanding of how the Endangered Species Act applies to species that have been designated as 'endangered' or 'threatened.' The Solicitor's opinion reversed more than three decades of administrative practice and understanding, without any opportunity for public input....The practical effect for protection of any species designated as threatened or endangered in the future will be to exclude individual organisms, populations, and entire portions of a species range from protection under the Endangered Species Act." tinyurl.com/48ajb5 Section 43 cfr PART 14 PETITIONS FOR RULEMAKING allows the filing of petitions under the Administrative Procedure Act. That any person may petition for the issuance, amendment, or repeal of a rule (5 U.S.C. 553(e)). The petition will be addressed to the Secretary of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240. It will identify the rule requested to be repealed or provide the text of a proposed rule or amendment and include reasons in support of the petition. That the petition will be given prompt consideration and the petitioner will be notified promptly of action taken. And finally that a petition for rulemaking may be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER if the official responsible for acting on the petition determines that public comment may aid in consideration of the petition. http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/... The public comment period on rule changes closed October 15th. This petition for repeal of those rules will be submitted to the Secretary of the Interior. Lets keep the pressure on.

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