New Trump rules would curb U.S. endangered species protections

[Belsnickel]

(08-13-2019, 01:04 AM)Benton Wrote: I see both sides.

I'm a fan of nature. I try to spend as much time outdoors, and I think it's everyone's job to make sure we protect the environment. On the other hand, anyone who has ever dealt with municipal projects knows the time that goes into environmental studies and the delays over the dumbest things. Want a building project killed? Say there's a chance some animal lives there.

We've had a couple in my area. One if a riverfront project that's had a lot of state and local money pumped into it, which would include building new floodwall sections that are badly needed. The problem? A mussel on the endangered list that's down river might be impacted if they increases the footprint of the riverfront. Maybe. Same with the Indiana brown bat, which has caused severe flooding issues, held up road expansions and killed a half dozen economic development projects in my area. The areas in questions are all located within 10 miles of each other and there's a chance the bats may be located somewhere in that area.

With the bat flooding issue, it caused the state not to reduce beaver dams that turned a marsh area frequented by blue herons into a lake. The herons and a few other species died out or moved off because of the habitat change. A biologist for KDFWR told me that now, even if they got permission to destroy the dams, the canopy is gone, so the marsh wouldn't return without.

I wouldn't argue that every attempt at wildlife conservation is good. I think that everyone, many conservationists included, would say that there have been attempts at conservation that have gone awry through unintended consequences and short-sighted policy. I'm seeing some of that around my parts on a micro level.

However, this alteration to the ESA rules that utilizes economic concerns in the policy adaptation process is flying in the face of the spirit, and the letter according to some, of the law. The whole idea behind the ESA is that we put aside the economic interests to protect species because, in most cases, that was what got this species to the point it is at.