The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is celebrating its 40th anniversary. While the environmental law had successfully fulfilled its mission of protecting critically endangered species from extinction, little did we know that those are just two percent of the actual population.
ESA is being administered by two federal agencies: the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The law was passed by the Congress was sparked by the near-extinction of the bison and the sudden disappearance of the passenger pigeon in the 1900s. ESA was signed by former President Richard Nixon in 1973.
After four decades, the environmental act appeared to be very successful at first glance. It was credited for saving several species by pulling them back after reaching the edge of extinction. Species such as the peregrine falcon, bald eagle, and the gray wolf are just some of the few of those highly profiled species that benefited from the act.
However, the Guardian LV shared ESA’s so-called “darker side.” It had been tasked to conserve species by placing them in their natural habitat. Of the approximately 2,100 endangered species initially listed in 1973, the recorded actual recovery rate was only less than two percent.
According to the report, implementing the objective to place the species on their “natural habitat” was a struggle because the law has likewise endangered the economies of several communities. Moreover, it has led to the creation of a cottage industry of litigation which had benefited the environmental activist groups more instead of the environment itself.
The effectiveness and degradation of the ESA started in the late 70’s during the Carter administration. At that time, officials blurred the lines of distinction between species that were listed as “threatened” and those that were listed as “on the brink of disappearing.’” The former pertains to animals that are in trouble yet do not currently suffer from any extinction.
Guardian LV added that this blurred distinction had created negative effects on property owners and several economies such as Utah’s Cedar City and Louisiana which had to deal with the prairie dog and the dusky gopher frog respectively. Shooting one Utah prairie dog would meet a $10,000 fine and a five-year imprisonment. Property owners become helpless and are likewise deprived of their property’s productive development.
Said to have allowed several secret settlements behind closed legal doors, ESA continues to undermine human rights which otherwise clouds its achievements on saving endangered species in its 40 years of existence.
