Last Wednesday, Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt uncharacteristically took the spotlight to level charges against President Obama that he has failed to defend the environment against Republication and industry attacks on environmental safeguards. Babbitt chastised President Obama for failing to “take up the mantle of land and water conservation… in a significant way.”

Babbitt opened by stating, “I am returning to the public stage today because I believe that this Congress, in its assaults on our environment, has embarked on the most radical course in our history.” He continued, “The intent is to chip away, a blow at a time, at the edifice of environmental laws and regulations, avoiding a frontal assault that would call attention to the overall objective.”

Babbitt’s timely statements come in the wake of the negative press surrounding House Resolution 1837, a recent federal bill designed to annihilate protections for endangered species in the California Delta, and the Obama Administration’s closed door discussions with a handful of California Central Valley farmers that could potentially dismantle the San Joaquin River Restoration act. If the Obama Administration succumbs to the political pressure of the republican backed H.R. 1837 and the politically persuasive CA Central Valley agribusiness, California’s fisheries, environmental and decade-long restoration work is doomed for failure. 

To read Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt’s full speech, please click here.