Polar bears take notice
The Trump administration announced reckless and potentially devastating new rules last week that will weaken the Endangered Species Act, which currently bestows a mantle of protection over 1,663 species of animals and plants. Of those, 1,275 are considered endangered and close to extinction. Another 388 are listed as threatened—the polar bear is one—and at risk of becoming endangered.
In the 46 years since it was signed into law by President Richard Nixon, the Endangered Species Act has protected imperiled wildlife and brought many species back from the brink of extinction. The law is credited with saving such species as the bald eagle (which recovered sufficiently to be delisted), as well as the California condor and the grizzly bear, both of which are still considered endangered.
The new rules come in the wake of a report from the United Nations earlier this year that more than 1 million plants and animals around the world face extinction, some within decades, owing to human development, climate change and other threats.
Since it became law in 1973, the act has required that the decision to list an endangered or threatened species must be made on the basis of scientific criteria without reference to the decision’s possible economic effects. The administration’s
new rule removes that language, clearing the way for cost-benefit analysis to be considered in the process. Although some officials suggested that economic impacts would be considered only for informational purposes, it is nevertheless a giant concession to industries that have long complained about having to make excessive accommodations because of the law.
But a key purpose of the law has been to keep threatened species from becoming endangered species. Wildlife advocates, rightly, fear that rolling back automatic protections and requiring special action from the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect an endangered species will be a time-consuming process and will leave the service vulnerable to political pressure from developers.
The new rules include language that advocates fear will make it harder to protect the habitats of species that are designated as threatened or endangered, and to put restrictions on land use there.
It’s unconscionable—and dangerous—to be removing protections at a time when scientists warn that a million species could become extinct. The new rules should be legally challenged and overturned. They undermine a progressive and far-sighted environmentally conscious law that has worked well for nearly half a century.