This Will Only Hurt A Little ...
The California tiger salamander is a pretty good poster child for why Endangered Species Act reform is needed. There's a lot of questionable science behind the listing and also behind declaring that it needs 74,000 acres of critical habitat.
Only in one part of ESA do we get to look at costs, and that's done along with critical habitat designations. (Costs can't be a factor in deciding whether or not to list a species as endangered or threatened.) The feds have done that for the salamander, declaring that just the critical habitat designation will result in economic impacts of $336 million. That doesn't include the economic impact of the listing itself, and it's probably laughably low, if it's like ther economic analyses the feds conducted.
The feds go on to say, "Shucks, that ain't nuthin'. You'll barely feel it." After all, the regional economy is a $28 billion one. Tell that to anyone who's land is part of that $336 million; to them the impact may very well be their complete personal economy.
ESA is the only federal act that puts the cost of achieving society's broad goals on the backs of private landowners. If society feels the need to protect California tiger salamanders, society should bear the cost. That's one provision of the proposed ESA reform that's now being vilified by enviro-mental-ists.
Why? Because they like having private land in public ownership, where they have more control over it.
Only in one part of ESA do we get to look at costs, and that's done along with critical habitat designations. (Costs can't be a factor in deciding whether or not to list a species as endangered or threatened.) The feds have done that for the salamander, declaring that just the critical habitat designation will result in economic impacts of $336 million. That doesn't include the economic impact of the listing itself, and it's probably laughably low, if it's like ther economic analyses the feds conducted.
The feds go on to say, "Shucks, that ain't nuthin'. You'll barely feel it." After all, the regional economy is a $28 billion one. Tell that to anyone who's land is part of that $336 million; to them the impact may very well be their complete personal economy.
ESA is the only federal act that puts the cost of achieving society's broad goals on the backs of private landowners. If society feels the need to protect California tiger salamanders, society should bear the cost. That's one provision of the proposed ESA reform that's now being vilified by enviro-mental-ists.
Why? Because they like having private land in public ownership, where they have more control over it.
posted by Laer at 3:03 PM
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