Eager to implement changes to Endangered Species Act regulations before the end of the Bush administration, the Interior Department has sent a team of 15 to Washington, D.C., to review 200,000 public comments in just 32 hours.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has described the changes as "narrow." But Democrats, environmental groups and newspapers across the country have criticized the proposal as a gutting of the ESA.

Kempthorne wants the final rule published in the Federal Register by early November. He ordered the team to Washington to review the comments for him.

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