Created during the Nixon era, the Endangered Species Act “is not working today,” said Sen. John Barrasso, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in opening a hearing on modernizing the law. The Washington Post says the hearing brought “round after round of criticism from Republican lawmakers who said the federal effort to keep species from going extinct encroaches on states’ rights, is unfair to landowners and stymies efforts by mining companies to extract resources and create jobs.”
The law has “saved the bald eagle, California condor, gray wolves, black-footed ferret, American alligator and Florida manatee from likely extinction,” said the Post. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe said fewer than 50 of the species listed as endangered or threatened over the years have been removed from it. That’s unacceptably low and proof the law is not functioning properly, said Inhofe. There was no discussion of the stability of species that recovered, nor discussion of the impact of habitat loss on hundreds of species as humans expand into their territory, said the Post.
Daniel Ashe, chief executive of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, said the law should be tweaked, but does not need a major overhaul, said the Post. Barrasso said the law impedes land management, especially in the West.