Holly Doremus (who, for those of you who ever have the opportunity to teach an environmental law class, is an author of what I think is the best general case book on the topic) has an excellent post at Legal Planet on the implications of President Obama's recent memo on the Bush-era endangered species regulations. She points out, quite rightly, that while President Obama's memo goes a long way towards fixing the problems with the new endangered species rules, it is by no means a panacea.
The Senate is likely to vote today on an amendment to the 2009 omnibus appropriations bill that would strip one of the bill's provisions that gives President Obama the ability to quickly and cleanly withdraw the Bush rule and restore the status quo to the Endangered Species Act. Let's hope the amendment is defeated.
UPTDATE: The Senate just rejected the Murkowski amendment by a vote of 42-52.