7393

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7393
• Author: Harrington, W.
• Title: Endangered Species Protection and Water Resource Development.
• USFW Year: 1980.
• USFW - Doc Type: LA-8278-MS,
• Copyright Material: NO

In the promulgation of these rules, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)* was
bound to follow the Administrative Procedures Act, which, among other things,
specifies the procedures that must be followed by regulatory agencies when
regulations are issued. The type of regulatory procedure appropriate for these
regulations is often called "informalll rulemaking. In an informal rulemaking
procedure, an agency first publishes a notice in the Federal Register stating
that it is thinking of proposing a certain kind of rule. In the next step, a
rule is proposed. The proposed rule and supporting information are distributed
for comment to those groups and individuals who are thought to be particularly
interested. Generally, interested parties have 60 days to comment on the pro-
posed rule before the record is closed. The agency must then decide how it
will respond to the comments either by withdrawing the proposal, suspending
the rulemaking procedure while the agency seeks additional information to
address points raised in the comments, or by promulgating a final rule, often
with changes made in response to comments.**
Third, an attempt was made to control indirect threats to the survival of
endangered spec ies. Sec tion 7 requires that "All other Federal departments
shall, in consultation with. . the Secretary, utilize their authorities in
furtherance of the purposes of this Act by carrying out programs for the con-
servation of endangered species and threatened species . and by taking
such action necessary to ensure that actions authorized, funded, or carried
out by them do not jeopardize the continued existence of such endangered spe-
cies or result in the destruction or modification of habitat of such species
which is determined by the Secretary, after consultation as appropriate with
the affected States, to be critica1."
This very dense passage imposed the following duties on the Secretary of
the Interior and other Federal agencies.
(l) The Secretary is authorized to designate, as appropriate, areas as
"critical habitat" for particular species.
(2) Agenc ies must ensure that their activities do not jeopardize the
continued existence of endangered species or modify their critical habitat.

*As the branch of the Department of the Interior with wildlife management
authority, the FWS became the agency with chief responsibility for implementing
the Ac t.

**See Gains (1977) for a more detailed description of informal rulemaking and
a comparison with other regulatory processes.

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