Tag: Endangered Species Act

Has the Endangered Species Act saved ‘very few’ plants and animals?

Washington Post logo“In the 40, 50 years of the Endangered Species Act, we’ve recovered very few species. … The act itself hasn’t really been successful in saving very many species.”

— EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, in an interview on Fox Business Network, Aug. 14

The Trump administration has finalized new rules to weaken the Endangered Species Act of 1973, a bedrock wildlife conservation law that bars the development of lands where at-risk species live.

In a Fox Business interview, Wheeler defended the regulatory changes, stating that the ESA has “recovered very few species.” Government statistics show that 47 species of plants and animals deemed at risk under the ESA have been “recovered,” out of nearly 2,000 that have appeared on the list.

But Wheeler is using a very strict definition of what it means to save a species from extinction. These conservation efforts work over many years, and not all species joined the list in 1973. The ESA could be helping a “threatened” or “endangered” species regrow its population significantly before U.S. officials classify it as “recovered” and take it off the list.

View the complete August 16 article by Salvador Rizzo on The Washington Post website here.

Endangered Species Act stripped of key provisions in Trump administration proposal

The following article by Darryl Fears was posted on the Washington Post website July 19, 2018:

Wood bison move toward higher ground at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Wood bison, which are larger than the plains bison found in the Lower 48 states, disappeared from U.S. soil more than a century ago. Credit: Dan Joling, AP

The Trump administration unveiled a proposal Thursday that would strip the Endangered Species Act of key provisions, a move that conservationists say would weaken a law enacted 45 years ago to keep plant and animal species in decline from going extinct.

The proposal, announced jointly by the Interior and Commerce departments, which are charged with protecting endangered wildlife, would end the practice of extending similar protections to species regardless of whether they are listed as endangered or threatened. If the proposal is approved, likely by year’s end, protections for threatened plants and animals would be made on a case-by-case basis.

In another rollback of a key provision, the administration wants the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to strike language that guides officials to ignore economic impacts when determining how wildlife should be protected.

View the complete article here.