"Ken Salazar, the new secretary of the interior, has been working overtime amending or suspending bad policies dumped on the public during the Bush administration’s waning days. That may not be entirely fulfilling for someone eager to put his stamp on policy. But it is necessary work and, with one disappointing exception — his decision to uphold a Bush rule removing protections from certain wolf populations — very welcome.

Mr. Salazar’s efforts have received strong support from President Obama. At the Interior Department’s 160th anniversary celebration, the president pledged that the department’s scientists — muzzled and overruled during the Bush years — would be respected. He directed Mr. Salazar to review a Bush rule giving federal agencies far too much latitude to move ahead with projects that could harm threatened or endangered species without first consulting departmental scientists.

Mr. Salazar can’t reverse the rule, but he can ignore it while he decides whether to ask Congress to overturn it or begin a new rulemaking process. In the interim, species will receive the protections they always have.

Get the Story:
Editorial: Mr. Salazar’s Repair Mission (The New York Times 3/12)

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