{"id":292665,"date":"2023-12-26T12:26:51","date_gmt":"2023-12-26T11:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=292665"},"modified":"2023-12-26T12:26:54","modified_gmt":"2023-12-26T11:26:54","slug":"bonner-cohen-this-landmark-conservation-bill-has-been-an-abject-failure-for-fifty-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=292665","title":{"rendered":"BONNER COHEN: This Landmark Conservation Bill Has Been An Abject Failure For Fifty Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From The Daily Caller<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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BONNER COHEN<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AUTHOR, FIXING AMERICA\u2019S CRUMBLING UNDERGROUND INFRASTRUCTURE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 23, 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by President Richard M. Nixon. The statute has put enormous power into the hands of bureaucrats at the two federal agencies that administer it \u2013 the Interior Department\u2019s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Commerce Department\u2019s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). It has also been adroitly used by environmental groups who have sued the federal government under the ESA to stop projects not of their liking through the broadest possible designation of a \u201ccritical habitat\u201d for a plant or animal said to be either threatened or endangered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But on the ESA\u2019s stated goal of \u201crecovering\u201d species at risk, the law has been a spectacular failure, according to a new report from the Western Caucus Foundation. The\u00a0report<\/a>, \u201cThe Endangered Species Act at 50,\u201d was written by Robert Gordon. Active in environmental policy for over 30 years, Gordon has held many high-level positions, including senior advisor to the director of the U.S. Geological Survey, deputy assistant secretary of policy management at the Department of Interior, and senior advisor on endangered species for the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnfortunately, at the half-century mark, with the listing of 1,667 species as threatened or endangered species, there are only 62 officially \u2018recovered\u2019 species\u201d Gordon points out. \u201cOf these, 36 \u2013 nearing 60% \u2013 are not real conservation \u2018success stories.\u2019 These \u2018recoveries\u2019 are hollow, as they are inaccurate proclamations attributable to an erroneous original determination that the species was endangered or threatened. The ESA\u2019s poor showing is compounded by the fact that for some species that have been recovered, the recovery is not primarily or even substantially attributable to the ESA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cScientific Integrity Problem\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Relying almost exclusively on the federal government\u2019s own data, the report uncovers widespread dishonesty about what the public is told about the ESA:<\/p>\n\n\n\n