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Is there nothing good and pure — and essential — that the Trump Administration won’t rollback, won’t stomp out — just for the short-term profit of it?
Through the Department of Interior, the president is steamrolling animal habitats to own the libs
by Jeff Goodell, Rollingstone.com — July 20, 2109
This week, the U.S. Department of Interior released a plan to essentially gut the Endangered Species Act, one of the most popular and powerful environmental laws on the books. The fact that we have any grizzly bears, blue whales, gray wolves and dozens of other iconic species left on our over-developed, over-mined, over-logged, heat-stressed planet is largely a tribute to the success of this law. And so, of course, the Trump administration must destroy it.
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In the last decade or so, this paradigm had shifted to a wiser, more pragmatic understanding that we are all in this together, and that a strong economy and a respect for nature are not mutually exclusive. And that shift in thinking didn’t come a moment too soon. A recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that about half the Earth’s animals have been lost in the last 50 years. The beauty of the Endangered Species Act, passed by Congress in 1973, is that it recognizes the fundamental value of the diversity of life and gives the federal government broad power to preserve and protect these habitats. Right now, more than 700 animals and almost 1,000 plants in the U.S. are shielded by the law, with hundreds more under consideration for protections.
There are two important changes to the law in this new proposal. The first allows agencies to weigh economic impact when considering whether a species should be protected. In other words, the proposal allows agencies to ask: What is the economic value of a black-tailed prairie dog vs. the value of a new strip mall? Once you frame everything in terms of cold hard cash, you know how the debate will go. This will have major implications for a variety of industries, potentially making it easier for roads, pipelines and other construction projects to gain approval. “It essentially turns every listing of a species into a negotiation,” Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity, told the AP.
by Michael Doyle, E&E News, sciencemag.org — July 19, 2018
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Consultations with other agencies would be streamlined. There would be a tighter definition of "foreseeable future," crucial in ESA decisions [Endangered Species Act]. Critical habitats could shrink, and threatened species would no longer automatically receive the same protections as endangered species.
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"These proposals would slam a wrecking ball into the most crucial protections for our most endangered wildlife," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "If these regulations had been in place in the 1970s, the bald eagle and the gray whale would be extinct today."
by Angus M. Thuermer Jr., PostRegister, WyoFile.com — July 20, 2109
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[John] Barrasso [US Senator, WY-R] would cut out the public in several ways, PEER’s [Kyla] Bennett said [director of New England Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility]. A 90-day comment period for removing federal protections of threatened and endangered species is “a really short time for scientists and interested parties to comment on a delist proposal,” she said.
The public would be stripped of access to some documents otherwise available through the Freedom of Information Act, she said. The proposed amendments would limit court challenges.
“Information will not be visible to the public,” if the provisions become law, Bennett said. With Barrasso’s amendments, “things are done behind closed door in secret. You have no voice in the courtroom.
“Under this administration they’re giving greater voice weight to industry, states,” Bennett said. But in many instances, wildlife problems can’t be solved by one state alone. “Most, if not all, of our environmental problems don’t recognize political boundaries,” she said.
14 of North America's most endangered birds
Most Endangered Species in North America
Endangered species in North America (Google Images)
Some things are still worth saving.
We are all threads ... in the fabric of Life.
Even the least among us.
Even those creatures that the gears of Industry would gladly grind into dust.
And thoughtless consign to the dust-bin of History.
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What does it profit captains of Industry, to gain the whole world,
but lose their souls in the process?