Whenever the Bush administration proposes changes in environmental regulation, caution flags go up like Old Glory on July Fourth. That's with good reason -- this president typically has sided with big business interests that argue regulation is an impediment to progress.

Now the administration wants to revise parts of the Endangered Species Act. Basically, federal agencies would decide on their own if roads or dams or other types of projects posed an unacceptable danger to plants and animals already struggling to exist. Under the new approach, which doesn't have to be approved by Congress, the reviews that government scientists have routinely conducted over the past 30-plus years would be reduced. Private developers and some agencies have long complained that the reviews delay projects, thus raising costs.

Another objective is to make sure that environmental troublemakers couldn't use the risk of species extinction as a reason to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The threat of global warming linked to human activity is all trumped up, don't you know.

The current regulations have protected all sorts of plants and animals, including the bald eagle. At least one member of Congress, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, thinks the changes are downright illegal. "If this proposed regulation had been in place," she said, "it would have undermined our ability to protect the bald eagle, the grizzly bear and the gray whale."

Besides the administration's poor environmental track record, another thing that makes this entire move suspicious is that it comes as President Bush is winding down his two disappointing terms as president. It's as if he's trying to give his "pave paradise" buddies a few meaty favors before he leaves office.

And though this may not be surprising, it's still disheartening. Congress must act to do what it can to stop it, and if need be, to correct it come the inauguration of the next president.

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