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Republican President Significantly Weakens Endangered Species Act Amid Global Extinction Crisis
The Trump administration finalized rule changes to the Endangered Species Act on August 12, 2019 that make it harder to protect plants and animals whose populations are in serious decline. They are intentionally, significantly weakening the nation's bedrock conservation law credited with rescuing the bald eagle, grizzly bear and American alligator from extinction.
Three months after leading scientists warned that humans have driven up to 1 million species around the globe to the brink of extinction....
The new rules would make it easier to remove a species from the endangered list and weaken protections for threatened species, the classification one step below endangered. And, for the first time, regulators would be allowed to conduct economic assessments — for instance, estimating lost revenue from a prohibition on logging in a critical habitat — when deciding whether a species warrants protection.
Said differently, if protecting an endangered species means corporate overlords will lose money, screw the animals say Republican leadership.
Despite its impressive track record, the Endangered Species Act has been a longtime target of industry and Republican lawmakers.
Critically, the changes would also make it more difficult for regulators to factor in the effects of climate change on wildlife when making those decisions because those threats tend to be decades away, not immediate.
Said differently, the Republican goal is to make it much harder to declare something as endangered. By the time a species qualifies in their proposed definitions, it will be TOO LATE.
Over all, the revised rules appear very likely to clear the way for new mining, oil and gas drilling, and development in areas where protected species live.
Environmentalists see it as another handout to industry amid rising alarm that the ecosystems on which humans rely are collapsing, creating an existential threat.
A recent United Nations assessment, some environmentalists noted, warned that human pressures are poised to drive one million species into extinction and that protecting land and biodiversity is critical to keep greenhouse gas emissions in check.
Climate change, a lack of environmental stewardship and mass industrialization have all contributed to the enormous expected global nature loss, the United Nations report said.
The bald eagle is the proud symbol of our nation. Should it become extinct, it will be a tragic symbol of our selfishness and greed. The Endangered Species Act helped rescue the eagle from its plight, but now that law is being weakened. For Trump’s donors and allies. For money.
The new rules are expected to go into effect next month [September 2019]. Environmental groups, Democratic state attorneys general and Democrats in Congress denounced the changes and vowed to challenge them in Congress and in the courts.
“This effort to gut protections for endangered and threatened species has the same two features of most Trump administration actions: It’s a gift to industry, and it’s illegal,” Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife and oceans at the nonprofit Earthjustice, said in a statement about the change. “We’ll see the Trump administration in court about it.”
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/climate/endangered-species-act-changes.html
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-endangered-species-rule_n_5cf7b7b4e4b01713bed4df9b?m4r