Comment on FR Doc # E8-21414

Subject: Re: Proposed ESA revisions. Dear Secretaries Kempthorne and Gutierrez: I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed rule change outlined in 73 FR 47868 [FWS-R9-ES-2008-0093] and urge the withdrawal of this proposed rule. The ESA’s consultation process is one of the most important provisions of all federal law for protecting native trout, steelhead and salmon. The proposal would result in substantial weakening of the consultation process, a blow that strikes at the very heart of the Endangered Species Act. These changes are not narrow in scope, would have sweeping impacts on the protection of at risk species of trout and salmon. The proposal would dramatically undermine the ability of the federal fisheries agencies to require that development agencies not allow their activities --such as dam building, hydro dam relicensing, federal land grazing, timber cutting, and mining-- to drive species to extinction. I oppose the proposal and ask that it be withdrawn.