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Perhaps the most widely publicized change in the 1978 Amendments was the establishment of a process by which some proj ect might be exempted from the requirements of the Act. To rule on exemptions, a seven-member Endangered Species Committee was established, consisting of the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Army, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Secretary of the Interior, the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- tration, and one member from the state or states affected by the action under consideration.* The exemption process will work in the following way. If the b,ological opinion concludes that a federal action will "jeopardize the continued exis- tence of any endangered or threatened species or destroy or adversely modify the critical habitat," any of the principles (the federal agency, the governor of the state in which the action was to have taken place, or the licensee) may apply to the Secretary of the Interior for an exemption. Thereupon, a three- member review board is appointed to consider the application. After determin- ing that an "irresolvable conflict" does in fact exist and that the exemption applicant has carried out the consultation responsibilities in good faith, the review board prepares a report on the application for the Endangered Species Committee. Although not required, the review board may (and probably will) conduct one or more adjudicatory hearings. Upon receiving the review board's report, the Committee may grant the exemption (possibly conducted on the per- formance of certain enhancement measures) if five of its members so vote. Any outcome of the exemption process may be reviewed in the Court of Appeals. The importance of the exemption process could be less than meets the eye. In the first place, it is clear that Congress did not envision that very many exemptions would be considered, much less granted. The Endangered Species Committee is composed of seven very high-ranking officials--presumably very busy people. It is true that the Committee members may appoint representatives to attend hearings in their absence, but anyone so appointed must be in a pos- ition requiring Senate approval. These are also very demanding jobs. Also, such representatives can only attend hearings and discussions; voting can only *In the Tellico Case, for example, this vote went to the Governor of Tennessee. In the Grayrocks Case, the vote was shared by the Governors of Nebraska and Wyoming. 19