The Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Act

Introduction:

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is one of the weapons of radical environmentalists, and is among the most wasteful and most counterproductive laws on the books. It started out as an innocent-sounding means of protecting plants and animals that were nearing extinction, but it has turned into a tool for exerting political leverage. Like so many other laws, this one has had many unintended adverse consequences. The application of the ESA has apparently resulted in a number of violations of Fourth Amendment property rights, especially in the western half of the United States. A quick search of the internet for the topics of private property rights and water usage rights will reveal a number of battles in rural America between farmers trying to use their land as they see fit, and various government agencies enforcing the ESA.

Welfare of pronghorn still trumps border enforcement. As I reported back in February, the Interior Department has been using a 1964 environmental law to block the Border Patrol from building communications towers along the southwestern border in Arizona. The towers are part of a virtual fence that would be used to intercept illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and human traffickers who are increasingly using protected federal wilderness areas to sneak over the border. Five months later, nothing's changed.

The cost of complying with government regulations has become enormous. According to Professor Thomas Hopkins of the Rochester Institute of Technology, businesses and private citizens spend more than $600 billion every year complying with government regulations. Hopkins estimates that environmental regulations make up more than one quarter of that cost, approximately $168 billion.*

Ironically, many of the environmentalists who are really gung-ho about the ESA are the same people who place more value on the words of Charles Darwin than the Word of God. One would think they'd be delighted when "survival of the fittest" is allowed to run its course, and the weak and vulnerable species die out! Instead, they place their faith and trust in the federal government, hoping to reverse this natural process at the taxpayers' expense.

The ESA seeks to solve an open-ended problem that probably can't be solved anyway, since the forces of nature are far greater than the power of the most overdeveloped government agency. Plants and animals have always faced danger… from each other! But the ESA is a problem because it has been implemented in a way that makes its supporting bureaucracies permanent, and the cost of enforcing the act are constantly expanding. A 1990 General Accounting Office report found that more than 80 percent of all listed species were declining despite protection under the act.* Listing the Northern spotted owl in 1990 led to tens of thousands of job losses and is expected to cost the economy $21 billion to $46 billion.* And even when actual recovery has occurred, species frequently are not delisted. This failure to acknowledge success aggravates public frustrations generated by the cost and inflexible processes of ESA.*

For the purpose of this discussion, I think there are two types of environmentalists: Type 1 environmentalists only care about gathering political power and tax-sheltered donations They support an ever-expanding federal government because they feed on politics. Type 2 environmentalists are people who mean well, and will do whatever they can to preserve and protect plants and animals, but they have been badly misinformed by the Type 1 people. This page is here for the benefit of the people who get faulty information from the mainstream press, which tends to be sympathetic to Type 1 environmental activists.

The ESA has the unattainable goal of protecting all species from extinction at any cost.* But it just can't be done. The forces of nature are far more powerful than anything the government can do for a mere $600 billion a year. The ESA is not just an inconvenience, it is a means of bypassing the democratic process to grab and exert political power.

In the United States, according to the U.S. government, there are 69 species of endangered mammals, 75 species of endangered birds, 304 species of other animals, and 598 species of endangered plants. [Source] Some environmentalists say that "tens of thousands of species disappear every year." But such a statement is absurd, and the people who make such claims are evidently hoping that nobody will test their claims against the facts.

This topic is related to others on this web site, including the study of Environmental False Alarms, Animal rights vs human rights, the banning of DDT, and the Abuse of government power.

Polar Bear II

Global warming threatens pika, lawsuit claims. Compared to the polar bear, the American pika is tiny. Weighing only 4 to 6 ounces, this rabbitlike mammal with thick brown hair, which lives on boulder-covered slopes in Western mountains, could represent the latest effort to use the Endangered Species Act to combat global warming. Environmentalists filed a lawsuit Tuesday [8/19/2008] in U.S. District Court in Sacramento to force the Bush administration to decide whether to list the pika for protection.

The Editor says...
If it really is a "rabbitlike mammal", there should be no shortage of these critters. Once again, it is my opinion that the environmentalists' don't care so much about cute and furry animals; they are primarily concerned with strangling capitalism by obstructing every practical source of energy.

"Extinct" Bird Seen, Eaten. A rare quail from the Philippines was photographed for the first time before being sold as food at a poultry market, experts say. Found only on the island of Luzon, Worcester's buttonquail was known solely through drawings based on dated museum specimens collected several decades ago.

Scientists Nudge Fish Closer to Extinction. Scientists trying to study the endangered Devils Hole pupfish near Death Valley inadvertently nudged the endangered fish closer to extinction. About 80 of the inch-long silvery pupfish died in traps set last year in Devils Hole, a limestone cavern about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists said.

Another 'extinct' animal makes a comeback. A duck that was feared to be extinct has been found alive and well in the wild after zoologists spent 18 years looking for it in the wrong sort of habitat. The Madagascar pochard was last seen alive in 1991. It had been given up for dead by most ornithologists.

Both Sides Await Word on Cave Bugs Case. The U.S. Supreme Court could signal as early as today [1/24/2005] whether it will allow Central Texas cave bugs into its halls of justice, in a case that property rights advocates hope will gut the Endangered Species Act. A decision by the Supreme Court whether to hear the case … in a dispute over six species of tiny bugs that have held up a housing and commercial development in Travis County for the past 17 years.

Florida Adopts New Standards for Endangered Species Listings: On April 14 [2005] the FWCC jettisoned the state's preexisting means for designating species as being "of special concern," "threatened," or "endangered," in favor of international standards that rely on objective data instead of emotional public relations campaigns.

The mud puddle preservation plan. When I was a boy growing up in California we called them "mud puddles." If they grew large enough, grown ups called it "flooding." But now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which enforces the Endangered Species Act, has adopted the bogus poetry of the environmentalist left, calling them "vernal pools."

Environmental Regulations Impede Pentagon Readiness. The nation's ability to prepare troops for the deadly business of combat is being undermined by environmental restrictions being applied to military bases around the country. Lawsuits brought by such groups as the Center for Biological Diversity and the Natural Resources Defense Council have sought to impose the Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Marine Mammals Protection Act, and other environmental statutes on military bases. The lawsuits, and the restrictions on training that result from them, have come in direct conflict with military readiness.

More about Environmentalists vs. Military Preparedness.

Farmer Fined for Shooting Non-Native Wolf That Threatened Livestock. North Carolina farmer Richard Mann thought he was shooting a large dog that was threatening his cattle. But when he came back the next day to bury the animal, he was confronted by federal wildlife officials who charged him with killing a red wolf — a federally-protected species. Mann was fined $2,000 and required to perform community service by building "wolf houses" and feeding the wolves.

Activists Sue to Block ESA Wolf Delisting. Environmental activist groups have filed suit to block a federal government plan to allow state management of wolf populations in the Northern Rocky Mountain region. With gray wolves set to be taken off the Endangered Species list, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have developed programs that would allow a limited amount of hunting designed to keep wolf populations at current levels.

Michigan Says Bald Eagles, Gray Wolves No Longer Endangered There. Bald eagles and gray wolves have made such a dramatic comeback in Michigan that the state's Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) is proposing the two species be removed from the state's Endangered Species List. They would join nine other species under consideration for removal from the list. Federal authorities have not considered either wolves or eagles to be endangered in Michigan since 2007.

The Endangered Spices Act: Bad for People, Bad for Wildlife. Residents of wildfire-prone Riverside County, California were prevented by the ESA from clearing firebreaks on their land lest they disturb the habitat of the endangered Stephens' Kangaroo rat. When the inevitable fires came, people's homes and the rat's habitat went up in flames.

The Endangered Species Act is Not Working and Reforms are Needed. Only eight out of the more than 1,400 listed species have recovered since the act was passed in 1973. This is not a success story by any measure. The far-reaching powers vested in federal agents to control landowners' use of their property have not worked to protect endangered species and may have had the opposite effect.

National Invasive Species Act

The Exotic Species War: In the United States the public regularly reads anguished stories about the "damage" being caused by alien invaders such as zebra mussels and purple loosestrife. … In response, Congress passed the National Invasive Species Act and the executive branch has adopted a National Invasive Species Management Plan aimed at closing our borders to alien species.

Invasion of Alien Species: How Severe A Problem? We can never stop this problem, but we can learn to live with it if we commit ourselves to flexible informed management rather than to panic regulation and symbolic action. We will make intelligent decisions only when the debate shifts from the unsupportable notion that "native" is always better to the all-important question of how we manage change in our natural economy.

New Report Warns Against Expansive New Regulation of 'Invasive Species'. The report says limits would be of dubious value but would require massive new regulations on property use. Furthermore, most "invasive species" actually are beneficial.

Invasive Species: Animal, Vegetable or Political? What do mute swans, kudzu, red clover, pigs, and starlings have in common? Not much, except that they are all non-indigenous species — that is, the species does not originate from within the United States. And that is essentially all they have in common. Yet many government agencies, lawmakers and environmental special-interest groups would like to clump together the thousands of these species introduced within our borders and stamp out their existence.

Washington, D.C. is the only city in the nation that can legally dump toxic sludge in its waterways. The Environmental Protection Agency issues special discharge permits to the Army Corps of Engineers to transport — in the dead of night — chemically treated sludge from the Washington Aqueduct, a water purification facility, to the Potomac River, where it is dumped in violation of the Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts. The Corps has admitted dumping as much as 241,500 milligrams of suspended solids per liter into the river. The maximum allowed limit for most states is about 30. The nation's power elite are content with insisting that everyone else comply with burdensome environmental regulations while they ignore them.
- Wall Street Journal (9/4/2002)
Quoted in Waste Wire

"Everybody Knows They're Not Really Endangered: We just need them to stop mining."

The Endangered Species Act deserves extinction: I often wonder why people can't just put two-and-two together to come up with four. Take, for example, a recent decision by a New Jersey appellate court regarding alleged "endangered species." Rejecting a plea from the New Jersey Builders Association, the court ruled, in essence, that it was more important to "save" the Pine Barrens tree frog or the bog turtle, than to provide housing for those who live in the most densely populated State in the Union.

Global Green Goals: How Environmentalists Intend to Rule the World. It's the smoking gun. Restructuring the Global Economy is a detailed roadmap to a green future ruled by radical elites from new command structures to be created in the United Nations.

Environmentalism, Eco-Terrorism and Endangered Species: While mainstream environmental groups may try to distance themselves from the Earth Liberation Front and its "eco-terrorist" methods, the truth is that ELF did directly what mainstream environmentalists have been doing indirectly for years via the U.S. government's Endangered Species Act (ESA).

After a Long Struggle, Whooping Crane Population Hits Milestone. One of the most beloved groups of winter Texans is back, in the largest number in a century and with a record 45 youngsters in tow, including an even rarer seven pairs of twins. They flew 2,400 miles from Canada's Northwest Territories and can be seen munching on blue crabs and bright red-orange wolfberries among the marshes of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.

Whooping crane no longer on brink of extinction. After a 100-year absence, the whooping crane is on the verge of making a huge comeback. On the brink of extinction in the 1940s, the tallest bird in North America has received an assist from the technological assets of mankind, as the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership has orchestrated its reintroduction to the wild.

Whooping crane count in Texas up to record 270. The whooping crane population has set another record with 270 of the endangered birds wintering on the Texas Coastal Bend. The birds in the world's only wild flock spend each winter in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas before returning to Canada and the Wood Buffalo National Park.

Wind Farms Threaten Endangered Whooping Cranes. More than six decades of painstaking conservation efforts that have brought the majestic whooping crane back from the brink of extinction may come undone because of the proliferation of wind farms in the United States.

The Editor says...
Hmmm... Six decades of conservation efforts? That means the whooping crane problem was being addressed long before the ESA existed.

Whooping cranes are arriving in Aransas Co.. The flock is the only naturally occurring whooping crane population in the world. Every fall it migrates south to the refuge north of Rockport with youngsters in tow. They stay through early spring before heading back to Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Canada where they nest and raise babies.

NW Montana grizzly count nearing 550. More than 500 "unique individual grizzlies" roam the northwestern Montana backcountry from the Canadian border to Lincoln, with Glacier National Park boasting the largest number, according to DNA studies conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey. In 2004, the bears left behind identifying hairs at tree rubs and on barbed wire, which researchers collected. … Not every bear in the ecosystem visited the hair-collection locations, so the 545 figure is a minimum count, not a total population estimate.

Endangered Species Act endangers rights of landowners: By stripping landowners of control over their land, the act has discouraged species protection. [Some people believe] if you find a listed species, you should kill it, bury it and never say anything. Less dramatically, owners of forest land cut down trees to avoid attracting the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, which nests in old-growth trees; and adjust logging practices to discourage the habitat favored by the northern spotted owl.

Web site: Undue Influence dot com: Tracking the environmental movement's money, power, and harm. "The environmental movement is not what you think it is. It is not about the environment. It is about power."

Here is another very interesting ESA page with a bunch of timely articles.

Ruled by scoundrels: The more federal control over education, the worse it becomes. The Endangered Species Act has attacked and trivialized private property rights.

Economic Debates on the Performance of the Endangered Species Act: Over 50% of the money actually expended on the ESA recovery by federal and state agencies, between 1989 and 1991, was spent on the "top" ten species. These species are also referred to as megafauna. Scientists feel that people will part with their money for these species because they are easier for the majority of the population to identify with. The following is a list of the actual breakdown of these ten species (Metrick and Weitzman, 1996).

Bald Eagle $31.3 million Grizzly Bear $12.6 million Northern Spotted Owl $26.4 million Least Bell's Vireo $12.5 million Florida Scrub Jay $19.9 million American Peregrine Falcon $11.6 million West Indian Manatee $17.3 million Florida Panther $13.6 million Red-cockaded Woodpecker $15.1 million Whooping Crane $10.8 million

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