ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT fight continues
Federal officials have added an average of 9.5 species a year to the endangered list under President Bush, compared with 65 a year under President Bill Clinton and 59 a year under President George H.W. Bush. They have designated as “critical habitat” only half the acreage recommended by federal biologists. And they are transferring key decision-making powers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to other agencies with different priorities.
Although signed by a Republican President, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) hasn’t been popular with Republicans, corporations, or developers, and there have been numerous attempts to change the landmark legislation. The ESA doesn’t solely conserve endangered species, but it protects natural landscapes and ultimately our own health as well. However, there are many folks who don’t believe in the benefits that can bloom from conservation or environmentalism.
Back in August, the Bush Administration proposed eleventh-hour changes to the Endangered Species Act. The Administration wanted to gut the “mandatory review by independent federal scientists” component from the Act. However, allowing corporations and developers to manage endangered species is a complete antithesis to what the ESA was legislated to do. The Administration also lowered the public commenting period from 120 to a mere 30 days. However, fierce criticism forced the Administration to extend the public commenting period for an “extra 30 days.”
Of course, conservation groups are fighting back. Recently “more than 100,000 citizens opposed the Bush Administration’s attempt to severely weaken the Endangered Species Act,” and “representatives from the Endangered Species Coalition, Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, Sierra Club, National Audubon Society, Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity delivered over 100,000 comments emailed in from Americans of all walks of life after the Department of the Interior and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration refused to accept public comments in the form of e-mails or faxes.”
The one bit of government that hasn’t increased under George W. Bush is the ESA. Certainly, it illustrates this Administration’s agenda and priorities.
Number of new species added to the ESA by recent Presidents of the United States:
| President | Number of Endangered Species Added to the ESA |
|---|---|
| George H.W. Bush | “231 mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, insects and plants” |
| Bill Clinton | “[M]ore than 300” |
| George W. Bush | “58 species”* |
*54 of those 58 species were added “in response to litigation.”
On the Net: ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT: To Act or not to act
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