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Chapter 2: The Endangered Species Act Today
- University of Georgia Press
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Chapter Two The Endangered Species ActToday As the world's most potent single piece of environmental legislation, the Endangered Species Act is reshaping the way our societylives upon the land, and it is fueling bitter debate over economic balance, property rights and the limits to growth.—Douglas Chadwick, 1995 AFER TWODECADES of change through congressional amendments and judicial decisions, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 has remained unauthorized since October 1992. This isthe longest it has languished since itsenactment. The 104th Congress (1994-96) attempted to reduce the muscle of the lawdramaticallyand to make it friendlier toprivate property owners, even though there was no evident mandate from the voters in 1994 to do so.That Congress failed to pass such legislation, and it took the 105th Congress (1997—98) the entire first session to introduce two reauthorizing bills, one in each house. The House bill wasthe better legislationbecause it addressed the needs of most endangered species and began to equalize the differences between public and private land policy. The Senate bill was a bipartisancompromisebetween environmentalists and private property rights proponents—a large step toward ending the polarization—with an excellent public education component. Neither bill survived. The House bill from the 105th was reintroduced in the 106th Congress, but no action was taken to address it. Before his death in late 1999, endangered species supporter Senator John Chafee (R-R.I.) ushered twoESAamendment billsthrough the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Neither wasa reauthorization bill. Late in the first session, Rep. Don Young(D-Alaska) introduced another ESA reauthorization bill. Hearings were held on it in the House in the first quarter of 2000. Just before the end of the Congress, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) introduced a Senate companion bill to Miller's House 20 The Endangered Species Act Today 21 bill from the first session, a positive ending note for this Congress. Still, there was no resolution. Although the ESA is a model law in its regulation of harmful activities on public lands, it isalso an intrusivelaw that interferes with human endeavors. Chapter 1 shows how conflicts over the law were greatly magnified when endangered species were discovered on private property in the 1980s. Emotions ran high when owners were required to modify or stop their development plans. By 1990, parties in the conflicts had coalesced into two main camps: those propounding the citizen s right to manage private property withoutfederal interference, represented by the private property rights movement, and those expressing the human desire to protect other species from extinction, represented by the environmental movement. Environmentalists had begun to coalesce into a cohesive movement in the 1960s. Within this movement are a number of organizations that have not wavered in their support of a strong ESA. The private property rights movement took root in the early 1990s after a decade ofstrain between private property owners and the ESA. These twomovements are discussed in depth in later chapters. The courts have upheld the lawthrough many challenges. Developers now accept that they may have to alter their plans or mitigate forthe consequences if an endangered or threatened species occurs on the land in question. From a legal viewpoint, however, the ESA is a limited remedy focusing on a single species and only when the entire population of that species is in jeopardy (Coggins 1991). Therefore, under political pressure, it iseasyfor federal agencies to water down legal requirements. Endangered Species Update Although the law helps stave off species extinction when implemented promptly, itsimplementation has been subject to political whims throughout its twenty-seven-year history.Asa result, itseffectiveness has been sporadic and incomplete. On the whole, the ESAhas protected species identified asthreatened or endangered on public lands but has been less effective forspecies on private lands. Though no lawcan prevent all species extinction, the scientists who conducted the National Research Councils 1995 study on the scientific validity of the ESA concluded that "fewer species have become extinct than would have without the ESA" (NRG 1995:11). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife [3.235.31.34] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 09:14 GMT) 22 Setting the Stage Service (FWS 1997b) noted that ofall species listed between 1968 and 1993, less than 1percent—only seven species—had become extinct. Moreover, only 35 percent ofthe listed species were still in decline, and 64 percent were still "critical" but their statuswasimproving.The NRC report named some of the species for which status had improved: Utah prairie dog, piping plover, Oregon silver...