OPINION/COMMENTARY

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT REFORM NEEDS STRATEGIC FIX

The House Committee on Resources has adopted a new approach to update the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to renew the focus on species recovery, but NCPA Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett said that while reform is long overdue, current reform efforts fix only a small part of the problem. “The most grievous flaw in the ESA is its incentives,” Dr. Burnett said. “The ESA actually creates incentives to destroy species and their habitat.” “More than 75 percent of listed species depend on private land for all or part of their habitat requirements but if landowners provide suitable habitat, their land becomes subject to severe regulation if not confiscation,” Dr. Burnett added. The best solution is for property owners to be compensated when the government imposes restrictions to preserve species, just as they would if the land were taken for any other public purpose. And Dr. Burnett added that the Bush Administration could go even farther and pay bounties to property owners who manage their lands in ways that encourage endangered species to take up residence....

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