{"id":467953,"date":"2026-09-03T06:03:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T13:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=467953"},"modified":"2026-09-03T06:03:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T13:03:42","slug":"new-cfact-report-esa-implementation-is-severely-flawed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=467953","title":{"rendered":"New CFACT Report: ESA Implementation Is Severely Flawed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"723\" height=\"440\" data-attachment-id=\"467954\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?attachment_id=467954\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0-Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-2.44.42-PM.png?fit=1170%2C712&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1170,712\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"0 Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-2.44.42-PM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0-Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-2.44.42-PM.png?fit=723%2C440&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0-Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-2.44.42-PM.png?resize=723%2C440&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-467954\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0-Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-2.44.42-PM.png?resize=1024%2C623&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0-Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-2.44.42-PM.png?resize=300%2C183&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0-Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-2.44.42-PM.png?resize=768%2C467&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0-Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-2.44.42-PM.png?resize=640%2C389&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0-Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-2.44.42-PM.png?w=1170&amp;ssl=1 1170w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 723px) 100vw, 723px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfact.org\/2026\/09\/02\/new-cfact-report-esa-implementation-is-severely-flawed\/#\">CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfact.org\/author\/christina\/\">Christina Norman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Endangered Species Act was created with a worthy goal: protecting species at risk of extinction. But more than 50 years later, its implementation has strayed far from that original purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new CFACT policy report,&nbsp;<strong>\u201cEndangered Species Act Implementation Is Severely Flawed,\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfact.org\/author\/dwojick\/\">David Wojick, Ph.D.,<\/a>&nbsp;examines several major problems with the way the ESA is administered today \u2014 from extraordinarily expensive permitting requirements to questionable federal spending priorities and ongoing legal battles over recovered species such as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfact.org\/wolves\">the gray wolf<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the report\u2019s findings, a Florida landowner seeking to build a home on five acres faced an ESA-related fee of&nbsp;<strong>$139,440<\/strong>, while federal ESA expenditures totaled more than&nbsp;<strong>$1.1 billion<\/strong>&nbsp;in the most recent year examined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report argues that protecting endangered species remains a worthy objective, but that the ESA\u2019s implementation needs significant reform to better respect property rights, sound science and responsible government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Read the full report below.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Endangered-Species-Act-Implementation-is-Severely-Flawed.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Endangered Species Act Implementation is Severely Flawed.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-2c40c69d-bcfb-4274-894a-4688c7df090f\" href=\"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Endangered-Species-Act-Implementation-is-Severely-Flawed.pdf\">Endangered Species Act Implementation is Severely Flawed<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Endangered-Species-Act-Implementation-is-Severely-Flawed.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-2c40c69d-bcfb-4274-894a-4688c7df090f\"><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new CFACT policy report, \u201cEndangered Species Act Implementation Is Severely Flawed,\u201d by David Wojick, Ph.D., examines several major problems with the way the ESA is administered today \u2014 from extraordinarily expensive permitting requirements to questionable federal spending priorities and ongoing legal battles over recovered species such as the gray wolf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":467954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A new CFACT policy report, \"Endangered Species Act Implementation Is Severely Flawed,\" by David Wojick, Ph.D., examines several major problems with the way the ESA is administered today \u2014 from extraordinarily expensive permitting requirements to questionable federal spending priorities and ongoing legal battles over recovered species such as the gray wolf.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691835929,691822681,691818542,691845127],"class_list":["post-467953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-endangered-species","tag-endangered-species-act-esa","tag-florida","tag-gray-wolf","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1XJD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":310391,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=310391","url_meta":{"origin":467953,"position":0},"title":"Coalition sues to block Virginia 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Tune in to learn more.","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado wolves\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado wolves","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=colorado-wolves"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Eagle-CFACT.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Eagle-CFACT.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Eagle-CFACT.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Eagle-CFACT.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Eagle-CFACT.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":368254,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=368254","url_meta":{"origin":467953,"position":2},"title":"Save the whales campaigns, Team Trump boost anti-wind legal action","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/02\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Whales migrating up and down the East Coast are getting at least a temporary reprieve from offshore wind. So are property owners, homeowners, business owners, tourists, and anyone with a stake in beach communities. 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