Saturday, March 16, 2013

ESA - Good intentions to intrusion

    The federal government of the United States of America has become the 800-pound gorilla to many Americans. It touches our lives from the moment we wake up in the morning to the minute we go to bed at night. In many cases, the intrusions are unwelcome and oppressive.
    Take, for example, the Endangered Species Act. Now, who could be against protecting poor, defenseless owls in the Northwest? That was the rationale when Congress passed the original Endangered Species Act in 1973. No controversy. Hardly any debate on the floor of the U.S. House and Senate. And, President Richard Nixon signed it into law immediately.
    Fast forward 40 years to 2013, and the Endangered Species Act is out of control. It has become much more than a mechanism to protect animals, mammals, fish and plants that are in danger of becoming extinct.   It has become a weapon of the environmental extremists to stop development of our natural resources.
    Environmental groups have even figured out how they can make money off filing lawsuits under the Endangered Species Act.  Litigation has become an industry for these groups, because they can be reimbursed by the federal government for legal expenses if they win.
    The Center for Biological Diversity has filed 835 lawsuits from 1999 to 2012, which averages 1.24 lawsuits each week for 13 years.
    The Austin American Statesman reported in July that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service paid attorney fees of about $1.5 million in 26 cases from 2004 to 2010. The U.S. Treasury Department paid $14.2 million from 2003 to 2010 to a range of plaintiffs in environmental cases involving the Environmental Protection Agency.
    Additionally, billions of dollars have been spent by private individuals and companies, state and federal governments on 1,436 species that have been listed, and only 27 species have been recovered for a slim 1.88 percent success rate.

1 comment:

Food for Thought said...

I think this article is a great answer for the points that were brought up in the column written last week by the Idaho State Forester....while it is important to conserve, please noteI said conserve not preserve, all species ESA is out of control. All the lawsuits filled by the enviros are ridiculous and tie federal land managing agencies hands so they can't do their jobs.

I wonder, how many suits has CBD filed against state forestry departments?