Time to Move on from the Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) in its current form has been around since 1973.  Supposed environmental legislation from the early 70’s (the ESA, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the EPA itself) was pushed and passed by the Nixon administration and has been the foundation for environmental activism ever since.  In 1973 there were 137 species listed under the Act and by August, 2014 the number had grown to 1,560 with over 757 additional species under consideration by 2018. Lately the ESA has been used to limit energy development, or at least make it more expensive.  But it is far more than energy development that is affected.   Agriculture and personal property rights are targets as well.   The overreach by the federal government reaches across the country. The ESA and the other Acts mentioned above come with impressive titles, but the results are not very impressive.  The federal government has gained control of more and more private property, and worked with environmentalists to slow and stop economic development in vast areas of our country costing taxpayers millions of dollars.  And after all of that, the record of saving “endangered species” is incredibly poor. For a good background on the ESA see “It’s time to Endanger the Endangered Species Act”  by Taylor Smith of the Heartland Institute...more