Obama to restore endangered rules

WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama is restoring protections for endangered species that were removed under the previous administration.

In December, U.S. President George Bush issued rules that allowed government agencies to implement projects without oversight by the Fish and Wildlife Service or National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to determine if the plans would harm endangered species, The Washington Post reported.

"For more than three decades, the Endangered Species Act has successfully protected our nation's most threatened wildlife and we should be looking for ways to improve it -- not weaken it," Obama said Tuesday in remarks to the Interior Department.