Why not be honest and rename it the Endanger Species Act? Ah, the misery machine that is the modern GOP - "Doing The Most Harm!".
12
Where is the sense of principled outrage that should lead to mass protest against the actions of the Trump/GOP regime ?
18
How many of you commenters who lament this absurdity by GoodBrain have done anything to lighten your own Carbon Footprint? How many of you even know what your Carbon Footprint is, or how it compares to, say, the average French person?
Crocodile tears are one thing, personal action is another. Talk's cheap.
3
The Republican Party proves its moral bankruptcy again and again.
No REAL conservative should vote for these radical, science-denying, fiscally-irresponsible, and globally reckless people until they stop licking Tump’s boots and show some spine.
Susan Collins? Rob Portman? Spare me. Each one is as pusillanimous as the rest.
It is hard to believe I once advised (and supported) a Republican Senator (John Chafee) who thought Medicare for all (as an optional buy-in) was a good alternative to Hillary’s 1400-page healthcare reform proposal.
12
The shame is that the Trump administration’s new rules benefit only a few persons economically! Those who can benefit raping the land, destroying waterways and parks, and letting animal species become extinct. A democratic government must benefit all of us and not allow this to occur. Stand up America --it's in everyone's best interest!
14
Koch Industries is running our country.
13
This well-reasoned editorial is useless, because the Trump administration operates on an anything-Obama-supported-is-bad reasoning, however stupid, shortsighted and illogical that is.
I bet Trump never understood the reasoning (reasoning: something else alien to him) behind "cutting off his nose to spite his face."
11
I was working for the forest service through most of the northern spotted owl listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The act basically constrained logging of old growth forest. But we had been logging so aggressively that if the ESA had not existed, right behind it was the Clean Water Act. We were putting mud in the creeks and getting sued over it. And if the CWA had never existed, there was the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). My point is, repealing regs is not going to get him that much more oil, timber, whatever. But it will get him votes. We have to win really big in 2020, because they are pulling out all the 'government is bad' and 'sagebrushy rebel' stuff for the benefit of western voters.
14
There is a tragic irony and self-fulfilling legacy to the Trump Administration’s unfettered quest for “energy dominance.” By ignoring science and the accelerating breakthroughs in harvesting nature’s renewable sources of boundless energy - sun, seas, wind, geothermal and hydrogen - they are not only destroying the earth and numerous inhabitants but guaranteeing that they will be forced to cede the throne of “dominance” within a few measly decades to more thoughtful nations.
12
It was interesting that my Attorney General Maura Healy would refer to the Trump's attempt to gut the Endangered Species Act like a plan from a cartoon villain. In the 90's there was a kids's cartoon show 'Captain Planet" where the eco alert Planateers fought against cartoon villains who wanted to lay waste to the planet and kill much of the wildlife so that they could wring the last dollar out of some natural resource not caring at all about the harmful effects of their schemes. With Trump we have a situation where these fictional concerns are starkly real.
13
I am sickened in general by Trump’s (so-called) administration. But nothing gives me more angst and pain than to see what this idiot is doing to our environmental protection policies. It is just sick.
I look upon the Hong Kong protests with admiration. If only we were such brave people. If only we were the people we claim to be in every jingoistic opening to a sporting event. We are frauds.
18
“Indecency, vulgarity, obscenity—these are strictly confined to man; he invented them. Among the higher animals there is no trace of them. They hide nothing; they are not ashamed. Man, with his soiled mind, covers himself....Man is the Animal that Blushes. He is the only one that does it—or has occasion to.”
“The Lowest Animal,” Mark Twain
14
443 DAYS...
11
It's worth wondering if the president and his enablers have considered the legacy that their path of destruction will leave in their memory. In fifty years will a blighted America erect monuments in memory of the monumental greed and stupidity that these people are perpetrating?
5
My brain shorts out for a bit when i hear things like "contempt for science" or "suspicious of science". I mean it's good to be discerning, but when scientists around the world know climate change is happening, what do these fool's do?, discredit science, weaponize a benign apolitical method of course. They just substitute their opinion's as their position's????? This is nuts!
Time to toss these bum's out with the trash.
13
Mankind. Killing off everything but itself. Are people really so dumb that they do not realize that we are destroying Life itself. Stop worshiping what you cannot see and start appreciated the life around you.
12
"Energy dominance" for the early twentieth century! Yeah! Who needs science when you have religion, one nation under $god$.
11
These people are evil, there's just no other way to say it.
8
Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got til it’s gone.....they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
8
The only drilling the GOP deserves is a little old fashioned trepanning.
5
Great article
1
tRump, and his cronies are nothing less than murderers, of animals and humans, and all of them should be appropriately punished for their hideous crimes.
4
Ever since that bald eagle snapped at the "President"?
3
If the Republican Party is to insist on playing this sort of hardball politics, the Democratic Party must respond in kind.
For now, environmentalists have been able to forestall and reverse some of the Trump Administration's worst environmental rules and policies. But, the judiciary is changing fast. The Republican controlled Senate has been putting its rubber stamp to good use. McConnell has them focused on nothing else.
These new judges want to dismantle the administrative state. Gorsuch is already signalling that he thinks Chevron deference, whereby the courts defer to the experts in an agency, must go.
So, it's time for the House to dust off its other power of impeachment--the power to impeach federal judges. There's a long standing--and mostly good--tradition of not impeaching federal judges for their decisions. However, many of Trump's appointees lack judicial experience and competence.
The House should announce that it intends to impeach the 10 most inexperienced and incompetent Trump judicial appointees. Force the Senate to schedule trials so that they have no time to rubber stamp more judges.
Then, when McConnell shrieks to the high heavens, it's time for the Democrats to demand action on climate change and a return to sane environmental policies as the price to stop the judicial impeachment process.
Sovereign power is supposed to reside with the people not the corporations.
Outrageous policies demand a response stronger than hand wringing.
8
We have turned into a country that worships money at all costs. The only thing sacred is fossil fuels. Not clean air, clean water, animals or humans or their environment, only gas and oil. The old men pushing this agenda, like trump and the Kochs, will be dead and buried as the planet disintegrates from climate change but their heirs will be rich! What will your money buy then?
6
The Prime Minister of Greenland had it right when he said "The President's mind is melting quicker than our ice cap."
6
The war on science continues as Trump seeks to remake America into a dictatorship run by a president sympathetic to white nationalism. The fossil fuel industry like the NRA controls the GOP to make more profits to use to control more politicians to further enrich the haves to be ensured by tax cuts for the rich and powerful. Love of money over our planet;s animals ,lands and people in order for the oligarchs to live behind gates like Robber Barons of old Trump's cronies.
7
I consider this Administration nothing short of evil. They are furiously trying to put in place rules so that the extraction industries can rape and pillage at will while they have a chance. What will be the use of living if we live in a polluted and lifeless landscape. We are exterminating the rest of life on this planet at an astonishing rate. I expect in my lifetime that many of the great natural wonders will be damage, other forms of life exterminated. Thankfully I have no children. I feel sad for my great niece and nephew - we aren't leaving them much.
5
It's just all so exhausting, this onslaught of worry. So many things to fight to preserve, protect or strengthen under this administration. Even our very existence, both physical and moral, is an issue. But maybe that's the point: Wear us down so we're not fit to fight, sow dissension to weaken us further.
I'm old. The America I grew up in was already great. Greatly flawed, too, but we were working on it and that was enough to sustain belief, to inspire. I hope we have the fortitude to withstand the onslaught and wounds of what's been happening.
Vote! Vote these guys out, top to bottom.
17
Another point to consider in the Trump administration's war on the environment and on endangered species, is that his Forest Service is proposing an act that would allow logging to go forward without public comment or environmental review. This will green light destructive clear cutting. It would allow logging of old-growth trees. The dangers of de-forestation include habitat destruction, increased carbon dioxide output, negative impact on water sheds, and landslides. Please, please go to the government website for public comments and register your opposition.
11
I bet if the protection of the trispot darter, or any other endangered or threatened species, required the shutting down Wall Street or the Hamptons, New York City newspapers would not be so supportive.
1
I’ll bet they would. And that you think this is a funny, useful, and intelligent comment.
7
Oh, I'm sorry, I must've missed the part where they're planning to shut down Atlanta in order to protect some birds.
But actually, one of the places you can today find peregrine falcons is in Manhattan. That is thanks to the Endangered Species Act.
15
This action comprehensively sums up current Republican values. Other than money, nothing.
15
They are not making adjustments to the ESA, they are breaking the law,i.e. with a willful criminal intent. They also control the Justice Dept, which under Trump is engaging in willful aiding and abetting of criminal activity under the law. Apparently no lawyers (officers of a court) or anyone who took an oath of office in the Republican Party in Congress to stop them.
9
Do Americans care that their Interior Dept. is under the control of lobbyists for Oil, Gas, and Coal? It's an obscenity.
13
Silent Spring was a must read when I was in public school. The science section of the NYT is a must read. We see the starving of polar bears, we see the death of bumble bee's and the list goes on. What are we leaving to the future generations and how in good conscious can the masters of the universe be so destructive of the earth and not care about the future generations. Soulless individuals are in charge
5
Is there no bottom to the depths of indecency, depravity, and obscenity that this administration will sink to? Apparently not. Rather than clear the swamp, the goal is to turn the entire globe into the swamp, as long as they own the swamp.
10
This brings to mind the great American buffalo herd that fell to man's greed. Someday we, ourselves, will be the buffalo herd.
7
On the bright side, given the depopulation of the public service, no one will be around to witness the decline and extinction of threatened species. I'm sure the trump cabal sees this as a win-win.
3
How about Homo sapiens as an endangered species?
2
The real irony -- or should I say stupidity -- of the whole thing is that "energy dominance" will be irrelevant when the rest of the world transitions to renewable energy. The result will be massive capital losses for those who exploit these newly-available resources, as falling demand will never cover the costs of exploration and drilling.
7
Democrat’s must not let the constant tweet chaos distract from all the awful realities of this administration. There are so many issues, granted, but please, please, please help save our country and our world! These are desperate times.
5
Trump should be put in the middle of Yellowstone so he can at least meet his victims before they are gone (grizzlies, wolf packs, mountain lions, etc). No Secret Service invited.
4
Looking forward to roast bald eagle @ Thanksgiving.
1
And maybe you can cook it by burning American flags. Sounds as though you are *that* type of person.
1
We need to throw the bums out in the 2020 election. Yet, the (R) majority in the Senate currently represents 40,000,000 fewer people than are represented by the (D) minority. Constitutional crisis, indeed.
9
Every species of flora and fauna living on Earth today has just as much right to life as all the greedheads at work in the Trump administration.
3
Vote straight Democratic ticket in 2020. End the crookery, thievery, skullduggery, and moral turpitude in 2020. Pursue the despoilers, investigate them, charge them, convict them, impoverish them after 2020. Claw back our heritage, our lands, our honor.
5
Put Trump at the top of the endangered list.
1
Trump and his regime are consistent, they have no interest in animals, nature, beauty (or the arts) or even in helping people other than the plutocrats, that is clear. They are only interested in accumulating and protecting their power and wealth. No surprise there, the hardly pretended otherwise. What angers me is the many who say they care about nature who didn't help Clinton win in November 2016, their stupidity is partly responsible for the deteriorating state of the world
4
Of course Trump and his minions are trying to destroy everything that is sacred and holy. They would all sell their mothers for a gold coin, no doubt.
3
Cant the inevitable democratic President that is seated 2021 simply “undo” all of Trumps destruction? Hope so!
#And the landslide brought Trump down!
The ESA: I am a fifth generation, great-grandmother from Northern California. I have seen this state deteriorate from being the best state, only to spiral into the bottom of the heap. And this state is in a heap.
Back to the topic, the ESA is a failed effort. The spotted owl ruined Northern California's lumber and community economies and the wildfires from the past few years have wiped out those so-called 'protected' forests along with massive numbers of species, and turned their precious habitats into a scorched earth environment.
Farmers and ranchers have been commissioned to grow every food plant and animal species...to abundance!
Why just because a species has been declared "Endangered" does it have to stay that way?
Get the agencies out of it and let the marketplace fix this issue. Even city folks could plant some weeds in their window boxes and gated communities of elites could create vernal pools in their lawns instead of demonizing agricultural activities and all other necessary land use. I am heartened to think that this Administration will put faith in the people...not into government fees, fines and mandates.
Victoria Murphy
Northern California
Optimism about the future health of this planet is in short supply these days. When greed and avarice and cronyism rule the day democratic values (not political per se) are often swept aside. This country's higher values are systematically being eroded and like a mudslide after wild fires have destroyed the natural habitat it will take decades to restore the previous ecological balance.
This rush to role back regulations that protect specific species and their habitats to benefit a select few mainly using economic costs as a measure to determine whether a species warrants protection is unconscionable. This approach is so retro - oil and gas demands are waining and sooner rather than later renewable energy sources will be the norm around the globe leaving the USA with surpluses and archaic processing plants rusting and rotting the landscape.
The results of the 2020 federal election has the potential to determine the ecological and spiritual health of this nation for decades to come. The issue is whether the electorate has the courage to admit it was seduced by a TV personality promising greatness who instead has delivered distrust and fear. Only them will they have the courage to vote him out and instead elect a leader who promotes unity and optimism.
8
Regarding greater sage-grouse, for nine years I was on the interagency range-wide strategic planning conservation team. The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies led the planning efforts, engaging over 5,000 people and entities across 11 states; ranchers, farmers, energy and mining, recreation, state, federal and local governments, conservation organizations, military services, individuals, and many others.
Neutral facilitators assisted in meetings of local working groups. Some meetings were so difficult and contentious that even getting participants to literally agree to sit in the same room took time. For some, it was a wrenching experience. In addition, many individual business owners, especially farmers and ranchers, were not being paid to be there, costing them money as well as their time. These participants developed local and statewide sage-grouse conservation plans that are the backbone of sage-grouse conservation, and they deserve tremendous appreciation for their efforts.
Unfortunately, the Trump administration is throwing aside their work that would save not only this iconic symbol of the American West, but the healthy ecosystems without which sage-grouse and many other sagebrush dependent species cannot survive.
What does that say about administration's respect for those so diligently engaged in the planning, especially when several core states are strongly conservative?
11
Trump and the Republicans have totally lost the value of facts, and of science. Thus a senseless roll-back of all environmental policies for meager short-term profits, despoiling our once paradise planet and only home.
4
"We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inexhaustible; this is not so."
"We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune."
"The time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted, when the soils have still further impoverished and washed into the streams, polluting the rivers, denuding the fields and obstructing navigation."
"It is also vandalism wantonly to destroy or to permit the destruction of what is beautiful in nature, whether it be a cliff, a forest, or a species of mammal or bird. Here in the United States we turn our rivers and streams into sewers and dumping-grounds, we pollute the air, we destroy forests, and exterminate fishes, birds and mammals -- not to speak of vulgarizing charming landscapes with hideous advertisements. But at last it looks as if our people were awakening."
"Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us."
Theodore Roosevelt
9
I like TR comment that we, “are past the time when we can treat Nature as an animal to be skinned.”
1
Like all of the issues driven by corporate Republicans and their enablers, the underlying issue is we no longer have a representative democracy.
The Senate is the largest culprit but the House is too, since it has widely disparate voter populations per representative.
This has allowed rampant gerrymandering (and let's not say "both sides on this on since the Republicans overwhelmingly dominate this issue as the vote tallies show nationally).
The influence of money has made our officials bought and sold on a market, most of it "dark" so we don't even know anymore who is really pulling the strings except that they are all corporate in nature. The first job any elected official has is to raise more money for the next election.
This completely thwarts the "will of the people".
As Lincoln said: "A house divided against itself cannot stand". We are at a place where divisions are baked into our political system. I really fear where this will end and have no clue as to how to get us out of this jam.
While I understand the original founders desire to protect the minority opinion, when the minority dominates the decision process, then we are lost. It is like the US before the Civil War.
6
Thankfully these cave men will soon be voted out of office. And if that doesn't happen I have faith the Mother Earth will do so herself for nothing on this earth is more important for the planet, a living entity, that will do everything to protect itself. Those who think they can hide in bunkers will be sorely surprised. It's too bad that those who have been working diligently on behalf of our very survival are demonized. I have a backyard. I do not poison my grass or the ground. I plant trees and vegetation to encourage species to enjoy this garden. If you love the earth, find a space in your landscape to welcome and treat nature right. Then donate to those planting trees, cleaning water and helping animals. We are more than them. Then finally, vote against anyone who doesn't at this time in history, does not have the welfare of our water, air, forest and land in mind. It is our best hope to defeat the cave men who have yet to evolve.
5
Who are these people who see nothing but dollar signs in a landscape that presently has no industrial activity?
The Earth has evolved over millions of years with its awesome landscapes, biodiversity, and .... silence, except for the sounds of nature. Who is it that feels compelled to dig and drill, put in roads, and assemble all sorts of industrial installations to scar the land, kill the animals, and leave ugly and poisonous residue for many thousands of years to come.
Nature took millions of years; mankind is capable of destroying it in a few hundred. Protecting at least part of that environment is our responsibility as humans.
I feel claustrophobic having to live in suburbia infested with freeways, jackhammers, lawnmowers and leaf blowers. But, I must live here to work.
Yet why is it that there cannot be a space nearby where we have preserved nature as it evolved, a place where I can just sit and listen to the sounds of silence, watch the critters and their behaviors, and marvel at the various flora that manage to survive.
Go live in your gilt tower on 5th avenue if gilt is your thing. But leave what little part of it that remains un-ruined the way it is. After we ruin it, it will never come back. But our Administration sees that wasteland as an opportunity for profits for the 1%. Well paying jobs? No, we'll sell the oil, or ore or the trees to China, and let them generate the value added from our natural resources.
3
The “reasons” advanced for the actions of the Trump Administration are window dressing, not actual. The motivation underlying its destruction and sowing of chaos in every facet of life is simply to spread disaffection and dismay with democracy. The hope for the cabal of billionaires behind the Trump Administration is to so discourage Americans with their government and its failures that they will accept strong-arm measures to restore sanity, and install the billionaires.
3
"The first would allow regulators for the first time to calculate economic costs when deciding whether a species warrants protection."
Higher-Authority regulators have calculated that Earth would be best economically served by elimination of the human stain. Let's get to it.
2
Here’s what Trump knows: he’s old and won’t face the consequences of extinct species or climate change. Does he care about his children and grandchildren? That question has long since been answered. He doesn’t care about anybody but himself.
7
The endangered species act is a plan for protecting ecologies from collapsing. Ecologies are balanced communities of life in which all the different plants and animals operate in a state which remains consistently and predictably. It’s nature finding an optimal way. In these ecologies there are species which are dependent upon that balance to survive. If they go, the ecology is going, too. When those key species become endangered, the entire ecology is in danger.
Trump knows as much about life on this planet as someone who could not care less, which describes him.
8
@Casual Observer
A fictional evocation of this can be found in the novella "And Us, Too, I Guess" by George Alec Effinger, in the 1973 anthology Chains of the Sea.
We can take solace in the fact that species diversity always rebounds after a mass extinction event (see, e.g., Raup and Sepkoski, 1984). Of course, we will not be around to see what natural wonders will fill the empty niches made available by us, the agent of the extinction.
3
The dinosaurs and giant mammals did not come back.
4
Cruelty, greed and a contempt for anything perceived as weak are all key traits of Trump, and he has found people who share those reprehensible traits to staff his administration and positions of great power. And now those traits have made their way into the bureaucracy and into policy.
These evils are invasive and insatiable. They always find new targets.
Until and unless we can stop the madness, expect more policies like this to be implemented, including very possibly in ways normal people like us cannot even imagine.
16
Are Trump and his Republican enablers familiar with the story of King Midas? Somehow I think not.
8
@Citizen-of-the-World
Clearly not. They are also unfamiliar with the story of King Canute -- either the modern version that paints Canute as thinking he can command the tide, or the actual story by Henry of Huntingdon which refutes that notion.
1
This rollback seems a usurpation of executive powers and is itself another underpinning reason for impeachment.
16
This is just another example of President Trump believing that this magnificent and exquisite world of ours exists solely for him to plunder and exploit to enrich himself, his family, and the elite donor class of the Republican party.
The thought of nurturing, valuing, and caring for the natural world-- and for all the flora and fauna it contains-- as a moral imperative completely escapes Trump.
It is exceedingly rich that at this critical juncture, just as we learn of a massive species die-off of plants and animals globally, due to climate change and the loss of habitat due to human encroachment, the President weakens the Endangered Species Act.
Trump's complete contempt for and ignorance of science as well as his total lack of a moral compass together have brought us to a calamitous precipice.
We have a decision to make in 2020-- to follow Trump off the cliff taking the natural world with us-- or to take a more noble and sane approach of working to save the magnificent biodiversity that exists on earth......
The choice is ours-- the citizens.
24
It will be interesting to see what Trump does when the Americans take to the streets. Because you will, eventually? Surely you cannot just sit there and hope that Trump will suddenly be reborn and come out charming, empathic and reasonable?
5
I'm confident that trump, bernhardt, wheeler, mcconnell and their like are themselves 'of' an endangered species -- but far less confident 'ours' will survive long enough to see them gone. ('Sad to say' -- whereas I 'have' 70 years 'and counting' -- it is not at all likely that I shall live long enough to see them 'counted out.')
P.S. Boris & Natasha, among others, are insulted by your reference to 'the subject ilk' of bad guys as "Cartoon Villains."
3
More reasons to make sure we come out and vote in historic numbers. We need to strengthen the ESA, not weaken it. Voting for the GOP makes no moral or economic sense. We need to campaign hard in swing states and consider moving forward on removing the Electoral College.
2
The petroleum age will be over in few decades. Extinctions are forever.
8
Forget the lobbyists; this is plain and simple, the most egregious example of Republican spitefulness.
The GOP is well its way to becoming an endangered species.
Let's create such a list just for the Republican party, so we can take them off it; just for the same level of spite.
3
2020: the most important election for this Nation and the world.
7
In writing a bit of fiction (GUT 4.0), the biosphere of the Earth, our planetary biome, if you will, just rejected its population of "smart" primates, simply wiped us out for its own survival. Ideas like that seem less and less fictional in light of the Trump administration.
3
Today Iceland marked the death of a 700 year old glacier. Now this! Do we have to say anymore?
Vote 2020. The most important election ever.
7
I agree fully with the opinion of the Editorial Board.
It is time that we stand up to this "cartoon villain" president and his sidekicks, because they are deadly serious and they have no bottom line.
3
Immigration driven population growth has a big impact too.
At least be consistent, editors. I am. We can only influence other countries, but we have a ton of control here. Stable population has a ton of benefits, including the impact on endangered species.
Dr. Einstein once suggested that there are two things that are infinite; the Universe and the human potential for stupidity... but he wasn't certain about the Universe.
Among the many habits of our pride, we have long regarded ourselves as Natures' apex species. Evidence suggests that Nature concurs to the extent that we are, by our own device, rapidly approaching the apex of the endangered species list.
Meanwhile, a child scavenging water from a stagnant puddle may wonder at the big shot's mortal finale which will be the same as her own except for his grandiose hearse. In her innocence, she may pray for him and thereby preserve hope, here... or hereafter.
1
The Trump administration is truly evil and insane in dealing with our environment. I can’t think of any other way to put it.
Previous Republican administrations have worked covertly against environmental protections in order to steer profits to extractive industries. But this gang is staging an open, all-out assault on the very idea that protecting our environment - you know, the air, water and species diversity that allow humans to live on this planet - is necessary.
We are at tipping points on many fronts, not just climate change, and we do not have years more to waste zooming in the wrong direction with these people. Donate, organize, volunteer and vote in 2020.
5
I hear Mar-a-Lago sits on land that would be ideal for mining as well as oil and gas exploration. Let’s raze it to the ground just so we can check and be sure.
4
Excellent, thank you.
America is in decline and this is a sign of it. We have fascism and oligarchy/plutocracy. Our values are now only for profit and power.
1
It is my opinion that trump is a domestic terrorist. Greed and hatred and domination are his first loves, his passion. If I were a religious person, which I’m not, I would have expected that the Bible, which he placed his hand upon when swearing his oath as president, would have immediately burst into flames. I do believe in karma though, and believe he will be indicted for some of his crimes and will pass like the bad dream he is. Vote blue everyone in 2020.
4
This is so enraging and dispiriting to me, because there are few things I care about more than the preservation of nature. Why have a Federal Act, and landmark success at that, if it can be dismantled so easily? I really wonder if some species, indeed if wilderness, the biosphere, and human decency can survive until these industry charlatans are kicked out of office.
4
What utter wickedness. The future--if there is one--will curse this government.
3
It's not like cost benefit analysis as a business tool to protect the environment, wildlife and humans came out of nowhere. Let's go back to Cass Sunstein's, "The Cost-Benefit State" published in 1998. Industry and finance folks have been pushing money matters into regulatory decisioning treeing about a nanosecond after National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was signed on January 1, 1970. And boy, by mid 90s when Gingrich called for a Contract for America - did CBO become many folks' favorite TLA (three letter acronym).
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=10083.
Copy/paste abstract from the link above:
Gradually, and in fits and starts, the American regulatory state is becoming a cost-benefit state. This essay argues on behalf of the transformation, as a method for overcoming selective attention, public ignorance, "legislation by anecdote," and rent-seeking. At the same time it identifies three serious risks in current theory and practice: excessive proceduralism; engrafting cost-benefit requirements on top of existing command-and-control regulation; and using the criterion of private willingness to pay in contexts for which that criterion is ill-suited. The essay urges a shift from command-and-control to more flexible strategies, including "environmental contracting." It also attempts to identify and cast light on the most complex issues involving valuation of regulatory benefits.
1
The criminal trump junta and his brown shirts in the Republican Senate have declared war on the planet and war on children, and it has a lot of soldiers. Just go to a meeting for offshore wind energy in the USA northeast. The fishermen cry and shout that global warming is destroying their fisheries (and it is), but they are dead set against offshore wind turbines because it will require them to change fishing methods in the turbine areas-- and out the other sides of their mouths, many claim that global warming is not real. People like this support trump's war on children-- and vote against their own self interests. This is some twisted stuff.
1
When we elect a president we elect a party with an agenda. We got the GOP ant-social party with Trump.
This next election again will come down to a choice between the Sociopaths or the Socialists.
3
When I read this on Monday,I burst into tears and it has followed me around all week.It is long overdue that this horrid,cruel shell of a man be declared unfit to illegitimately occupy the WH for one minute longer.We all should be protesting in the streets to rid ourselves of this stain on our country.
3
You really just have to laugh. Unless you have children, of course. They are going to be the ones who suffer because of the poor decisions our government is making today.
https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/federal_deficit_chart.html
Not only will they inherit an ecosystem on the verge of collapse, they'll inherit a mountain of debt as well. If you have kids, and support what Trump's henchmen are up to, give yourself a big pat on the back. MAGA, saps.
5
Gray whale
Now that we are sending you to The End
That great god
Tell him
That we who follow you invented forgiveness
And forgive nothing
I write as though you could understand
And I could say it
One must always pretend something
Among the dying
When you have left the seas nodding on their stalks
Empty of you
Tell him that we were made
On another day
The bewilderment will diminish like an echo
Winding along your inner mountains
Unheard by us
And find its way out
Leaving behind it the future
Dead
And ours
When you will not see again
The whale calves trying the light
Consider what you will find in the black garden
And its court
The sea cows the Great Auks the gorillas
The irreplaceable hosts ranged countless
And fore-ordaining as stars
Our sacrifices
Join your word to theirs
Tell him
That it is we who are important
WS Merwin, “For a coming extinction”
5
"Ms. Healey likens the new rules to 'a plan from a cartoon villain,' ..."
Nutty, malevolent, short-sighted, corrupt, ignorant. What's next? Open season on baby seals and puppies? They come for every firstborn male Democratic child? This is modernization? It looks to me like the same old King Herod to me.
4
Another monstrous act by a real world villain.
M
3
The depravity of this administration is quite astonishing. What Osama bin Laden and Vladimir Putin both saw clearly was the the way to conquer America (as an idea) is to infect & corrode it from the inside out. Trump and his GOP junta may be their final masterstroke.
It is heartbreaking that the American experiment probably failed, but other nations will rise and experiment with the place of the individual in society and in the universe - perhaps with greater success.
"O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't."
2
All the more reason to vote as many republicans out of office as possible. This is an outrage and a disgrace.
2
This agenda to turn over the environmental health of this country, and the world, to the oil companies, has been going on since he was elected. It is about making a profit for him and other 1% people, as well as part of his other goal...to systematically destroy the United States. He deliberately turned over the environment to the oil companies, the education system to a profiteer, HUD to an idiot, immigration to a nationalist zealot, etc. Again I say, this is a hostile takeover of our government, "led" by a foreign agent of a hostile power. It will only get worse. I hope we can change it at the next election, but the way the courts have been stacked, and how this strategy has been employed in other world powers, causes me great concern.
8
Donald is Snidely Whiplash with orange hair. The problem is there is no Dudley Doright to save us. (Sure as heck NOT Nancy Pelosi!) I can't help but feel like Nell on the train tracks, only this time I cannot escape the certainty of being run over by this virulent monster and his awful cadre of Republicans.
It would be funny if it weren't so terrifying and deadly.
1
This is another crisis from our soap opera president. Don't you long for the no drama, boring, steady as she goes presidency of Obama?
3
Mr. Trump wants to take and pillage our entire planet.
1
Our President is a cartoon villain. Vote him out. Then lock him up.
3
"Cartoon villain" - best description of Trump and his corrupt malignant administration ever.
1
“Boris & Natasha say endangered species fake news — Work of Moose and Squirrel.”
4
Everything they do morning noon and night everyday is evil. Everything about this administration is a crime against humanity.
3
As much as we rail against this idiot president's policies and tweets 89% of his party agree with his actions. What are we missing that they hunger for? It's scary what they applaud!
1
Does it seem, as mentioned, like something from a comic book story plot? A sci-fi about continued dis-regard for natural diversity, pointing at human population effect on the only place available since all warp speed ships have broken down? A modern Joan raises the scepter of science, philosophy, nature, and a young planetary population starts to get it. The diabolical greed and earth trashing old men are at a crossroads. The masses look to leaders for answers but truth and lies are indistinguisable because of a brain virus. A spaceship lands on the White House lawn. A big robot steps out of it.....
Time to declare the GOP a terrorist organization.
How much more of this can we stand? In the name of profits they would destroy everything they are charged to protect.
Disgusting foul incomprehensible cowards.
4
Don't Republicans have children?
1
Beautiful. The UN climate people are zealots looking for money. Then we cite Richard Nixon the Liberal villain and a 50 year old law that was very effective.
Time for a loosening on the rules. When we have alligators eating people in DisneyWorld, something ain’t right. If the Obama Admin had done this, all that would be left are the crickets
What do you expect from a man who thinks the outdoors should only consist of a groomed golf course and wealth only consists of money? Find a way to destroy his golf courses and watch him jump.
4
It is now obvious that today's RINO republican party has devolved in to a malignancy.
The sooner it becomes extinct the better the chances for the planet and all of it's interconnected species.
3
Alexander von Humboldt warned about the destructive force humans were having on nature over two centuries ago. Animal and environmental organizations now do their best but it's an impossible struggle that won't be won unless we start considering the overpopulation of humans and capitalism's requisite to make a profit.
3
Trump and his cronies think science is great if they can make money on it. Energy dominance of hydrocarbons is an effort to continue the dominance of the present oil and coal industries while other countries are trying to move ahead with green energy. This is typical of the dinosaurs of the McConnell type who want political power generated by the old behemoths.
3
What's called for is a massive voter turnout of those who value and wish to preserve our constitutional Democracy.
13
In judging the efficacy of the Endangered Species Act one must recognize that the law does not stop States from failing to take the actions necessary to save species on the brink of extinction. For example, in the Pacific Northwest, the ESA does not stop States from allowing logging and farming right up to the edges of streams, despite the fact that streamside trees are essential to protecting threatened and endangered salmon (and clean water in general).
4
@Nina Bell: Delivery of unequally protective law is the only rationale for US states.
Indifference if not antagonism is a bedrock principle of the GOP. It's pretty well spelled out in the party platforms going back to Gerald Ford. Remember James Watt and Anne Gorsuch? Donald Trump is the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow arc that started decades ago. I can't imagine anyone worse.
8
Growth in the 21st century is no longer coming from growing populations, the discovery of new lands, or world war. It's now predicted almost entirely on innovation.
Conservatives don't seem to recognize this fact, at least in energy--it's as if they are clinging stubbornly to horse-drawn carriages while the rest of the world is making Teslas.
Energy innovation will be the next internet, and by doubling down on petroleum the US may be forfeiting its technological lead. Maybe other countries such as China will be the innovators, and then we'll have to buy their technology.
The US should be establishing a Manhattan Project for batteries or hydrogen or solar or wave power, or sources of energy that no one has thought of. Instead, the administration will continue with opening public land for dirty fuel while the rest of the world moves ahead. Instead, we waste our political discourse on xenophobia, and our tax dollars on flying the president around on air force 1 for his endless staged political rallies.
What a lost opportunity.
14
Not to worry, when every last wild species has been killed and the land plundered, Zuck will create a virtual landscape with wild animals for our viewing right from our desk. We be able to hear the sounds of wildlife, see wild animals, plants and trees. What we won't be able to do is stand in a magnificent old growth forest and smell the moss, hear the wind through the trees, listen to the stream and be in awe of the beauty surrounding us.
9
"No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. The people had done it to themselves."
Rachel Carson
SILENT SPRING 1962
This book, eerily prophetic, was dedicated to Albert Schweitzer who said: "Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth." What more can we say? How ashamed are we that those prescient minds above from the 20th Century understood and fathomed far better than we the interdependence of all living things? They say that our human species is meant to evolve. Think again.
361
@Kathy Lollock It is shameful. Shameful that I look at the future of my grandchildren and ask how we did this to them also.
29
@Kathy Lollock I share your sentiments, but disagree with the notion that we will "destroy the earth." We will destroy its welcome mat for our comfortable sustainability on it. We can neither save nor destroy the earth. It was here before us, it'll be here when we're gone.
17
@Kathy Lolloc
But Carson’s ideas can’t be trusted because her ideas led to a worldwide ban on DDT that resulted in millions of deaths from malaria.
(This is a FOX NEWS article of faith).
The US is simply too stupid to survive.
19
It is impossible to put a price tag on what is priceless.
Life is not a commodity - and if Republicans were truly 'pro-life' they would understand that. But they don't. Sadly all they understand is money and short-term gain; thus the rich get even richer in capital, and every one of us gets poorer in what matters more.
370
@Kealoha
Actially there is a very profitable viable price tag on life.
Ask the Japanese doing ' research' on whales and Bluefin Tuna.
Ask the people who still crave Orange Roughy and Patagonian Toothfish aka Chilean Sea Bass.
Ask those who crave American Alligator and Bison.
8
@Kealoha
If the Interior Department were serious about evaluating the economic impact of species extinction, they would be looking at the costs of artificially propping up food chains when ecosystems start to collapse due to the extinction of key species. They would be including costs of things like increased asthma rates, water filtration, and heating and cooling costs from cutting down forests, mining, and road building in wilderness. Some of these things we don't know enough to calculate (which is why the smart money says we shouldn't mess with it), but some of these things we can and should include. And when we do, my bet is that the loggers and miners and drillers will lose out if we fully consider the true 'economic impact' of not protecting endangered and threatened species.
8
@Blackmamba
I assume you understand she meant it is not metaphorically possible.
You would do very well to read Iain McGilchrist's 'The Master and His Emissary."
RSA Animate has a good 11 minute overview on YouTube. I recommend watching each time you write a comment, just prior to submitting.
3
It is about time. Like all regulations passed by Congress, the endangered species act has been overused. Homeowners have been told that they cannot make improvements to their home because it would endanger the habitat of an endangered species. The act has kept farms from damming rivers to deliver water to their crops because of an endangered minnow.
I got a shiny buffalohead nickle right here that says you can’t name a specific instance in which a modest homeowner got hit this way, let alone explain the reasoning behind trying to preserve your minnows.
I know this, because I’ve seen these claims a thousand times, right off the script.
5
@John
But what if that minnow plays a vital role in the larger circle of life? Say it eats a toxic form of algae or serves as a food source for larger fish, which are themselves food sources for birds, bears, raccoons, etc?
You can't just arbitrarily remove one link in the chain and think it will have no impact on the ecosystem. And yet arrogant humans insist they can.
4
Land and ecological integrity are fundamental requirements to sustain or grow wildlife populations. Wealthy donors to Republican coffers want the land for oil and gas development and expanding livestock operations. Some wildlife species have evolved to survive in the hardscrabble West, with very harsh conditions, and are found nowhere else. Once they’re gone, they can never be replaced.
In “The Republican War on Critters”, (Sierra magazine 2017) writer Jason Mark presciently explained, “The new GOP approach to wildlife in the United States is the logic of the schoolyard bully: If you can shoot bears from a helicopter, go for it. If wildlife pose an obstacle to oil wells and mines, get them out of the way. If killing wolf pups in their dens will bolster populations of game animals like moose, the wolves have got to go.”
297
@Dee this Administration and the current GOP never seriously consider legitimate rigorous Ecology/Evolution.
Their World View cannot tolerate scientific truth so science ignored by default.
If they know science its with mind-set to sound expert when they gas-light issues to undermine good science.
One has just to look to the Discovery Institute (anti-evolution creationist think tank) for the gas-light model.
Charismatic charlatans to charm the predisposed, credentialed but perverse scientists to give them truthy sounding talking points, and an aim to promote their view at all costs - truth/honor in dustbin.
Back to the issue of this column.
Of course regulations need review and adjustment through time - things change.
And of course NOT EVERY regulation was installed without some political (unscientific) motivation - although the overall umbrella is worthy not every "legal action" was rigorously scientific.
But Science has a METHOD - the Scientific Method - and it corrects its mistakes PROPERLY soon enough generally.
What we have though in this Administration and in the GOP of today is a greedy self-serving narrow-minded agenda antithetical to Science and the Ecology of life!
Think! Example: it never was about the SNAIL DARTER per se to real scientists. It was about the broader ecology of the necessary environment for our lives. As goes the Darter goes us!
And that is why the ESA and other such acts are essential to OUR survival!
15
@Dee
What can be done to sustain wildlife like the three closely related African primate apes aka bonobo, chimpanzee and humans?
Don Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump are the Trump Organization wildlife ' managers'.
4
When I read about this rollback last week, it was just the latest move by the Trump Administration that - literally - kept me up all night.
I feel utterly helpless and impotent in the face of such sweeping evil.
A friend suggested that I contribute to the Center for Biological Diversity, a group that's at the forefront of litigation against the administration to stop the environmental and ecological horrors.
I'm not advocating for the CBD, but I will say that contributing gave me a smidgen of power. There are other similarly-minded groups. Perhaps those who are as devastated as I am will, similarly, derive some relief in knowing that we're pushing back.
NOT my president
433
@Ninbus
Good idea. But since this is an issue determined by the politics, we would be better off contributing to the opposition of Donald Trump and the GOP.
29
@rich
Good idea to do both. With Trump/GOP filling the courts with their ideological lackeys, even the efforts of the CBD will not be enough. But the pressure must be continued to keep it in the public eye.
33
@Ninbus The Center for Biological Diversity issues several significant reports that the media (and the NYTimes) strangely ignores. I would recommend this one to everyone:
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/grazing/pdfs/CostsAndConsequences_01-2015.pdf
The media ignores what public lands ranching is doing to our wildlife and wild lands, but this report makes it plain.
27
If this hideous new rule goes into effect and economic impacts need to be included in protection decisions, then there needs to be a *full* economic analysis of habitat destruction activities now prevented by implementation of the ESA.
For example, ancient forests of the Pacific Northwest, which were being fully liquidated under the Reagan administration, have been protected for the past 25 years because of the ESA's protection of the Northern Spotted Owl. Those big old trees and their intact watersheds have an incalculable value to my home in Seattle: clean air, clean water, a hedge against drought, carbon sequestration, biodiversity and pollinators as ecosystem services to the booming economy.
If the Trump Administration wants to begin cutting these giant forests, they'd also have to include the costs to local companies that use these "natural amenities" to recruit and retain the best talent. Any economic consideration of what the dying timber industry or foreign hard rock mining companies would return to our treasures is pales in comparison to the value to the American people of keeping those forests and their watersheds intact.
Besides which, the forests of the Pacific Northwest are the birthright of every American, and should not be exploited for private profit.
My region has the ESA to thank for our thriving economy. Americans must stop the liquidation of our shared inheritance by this corrupt administration and their immoral cronies - and fast.
434
Nice, Kelsey. These points are almost always missed. If you're going to use economic analysis, then use it appropriately. These economic analyses should reference science and even business/environmental group partnership work on quantification of the value of the ecosystem services you mention. In addition, they should cite cases of how businesses, willing to look at ecosystems and critters differently, have found creative ways, including cost-savings measures, to conserve them. Relatedly, I wish the Times would stop referring to such anti-environment moves as supported by business. Companies are not monolithic. There is a new breed of them that are fine with protecting the environment, and fields, journals, and conferences now that support them. Finally, while I almost always try to see both sides of issues, and at least look for win: wins between them, this one is different. I'm too sensitive to the critters, who cannot speak for themselves, and to whom we have enormous stewardship responsibilities. Therefore, economics, even at its best, should not be the sole criterion in arguing about their protection. In part because of the pairing this article makes with the recent U.N. report about 1 million at risk species, and the moral irresponsibility of policy that goes in the exact opposite direction, this is my candidate for the single dumbest move this Administration has made.
73
@Kelsey Arthur
Are you aware that the Spotted Owl is now endangered because of other owls that took over after logging was banned. So the conservation didn't work.
1
@ebmem
Barred owls have moved into the range, but there is absolutely no indication that they did so as a result of bans on logging.
63
"disregard bordering on contempt for science" I heard Rep. Paul Tonko (D NY) at a talk upstate two days ago: the Scientific Integrity Act now has over 200 Democratic co-sponsors in the House. But not one Republican has been willing to sign on to protect science-based policy from political interference. Not a single one. Something to remember in November 2020.
516
The Republicans can’t support science?
Who are these people and what causes them such lack of simple gumption?
Why, let’s remove all their use of scientifically-based devices, discoveries and creature comforts and replace them with a spit bucket of wishes, mysticism and flat-earth mandates.
33
@Skye Hallberg
Thank you. Americans must get quickly educated that the values of mankind are at state with this example of the trashing of the ESA. More than ever, the ballot box will need to become the showcase of mankind's values for the other species of the world and for our planet in general. After that there will need to be protests an then perhaps some kind of revolution. This can't go on.
13
@Skye Hallberg
'The Republicans can’t support science?'
'Why, let’s remove all their use of scientifically-based devices'...'and replace them with' the outhouses... for a start...
16
I don't think it's accurate to describe David Bernhardt as a former oil lobbyist; the word *former*should be omitted. As to the observation that moderate Republicans are an endangered species, if not already extinct, I'd say they're like the ivory-billed woodpecker: no one can prove them extinct, but there have been no reliable sightings in quite a few years. And as for the overall attitude of this whole administration, Ms. Healey is correct when she likens the new rules to “a plan from a cartoon villain,”
12
@Thomas
Yes, a "cartoon villain", but there is nothing funny about this kind of reckless policy. It used to be the "know-nothings" we worried about. Now its the "we want everything that we can grab and now", and the heck with future generations. These are the same folks who complain about EPA regulations that protect workers against dust or toxins requiring mitigations. The constant complaint that we have too many regulations fails to account for so much that was designed to keep waters safe and drinkable, and lands pristine and habitable by living things.
6
@Jesse: I would never suggest that there's anything funny about it. The point is that they seem to delight, not just in trying to make the rich ever richer, but in doing evil for its own sake. That's the resemblance to cartoon villains. And by the way, the know-nothings are very much with us; they just don't use that name. They are a large part of the Leader's "base."
2
If this it the type of cruelly atrocious legislation that the 40 percenters are OK with then they need to seriously re-consider their perceived reality.
6
If Trumpian thinking prevails, we will all be on the endangered species list fighting each other for fewer and fewer livable spaces. Only the "pro-life" crowd could show such disrespect for-well life!
8
You and the rest of the media are responsible for this debacle. The media continues to give this collection of miscreants 24/7 exposure, as they did during the last presidential campaign.
3
@wyleecoyoteus
Blaming the media for the administration's environmental rule changes makes absolutely no sense. Many of these changes have been made stealthily, with his twitter tirades and other controversies as cover. More stories like this need to be written and disseminated.
24/7.
7
@wyleecoyoteus
Sorry, but I want to know every disgusting thing 45* and his administration has done and is doing to the USA and the world. We need it all recorded.
3
@wyleecoyoteus
True, however this time around I really think the media has the responsibility to inform the voting public about the harm that Trump is doing. And that is what this piece is about...the incredible cruelty that Trump and his sick
Administration is doing to our nation and to the innocent wildlife that lives here.
2
One more nail in the coffin. But wait, capitalism will save us because we are exceptional! Technology will save us because we are so smart!
Start praying.
6
We mere humans will not destroy the Earth. We are minute blips in geological time. If necessary, Earth will destroy us to save itself.
7
The irony of Trump supporters calling themselves “conservative” is mind boggling. I suspect they only understand the term to mean “not liberal” or “not socialist” or “not one of them”. The same people who agonize over whether students should learn about birth control seem to have no hesitation about wiping out multiple species in the pursuit of forms of energy that doom us all.
13
Where fossil fuels exist in protected areas, wildlife is in jeopardy. When we burn fossil fuels, we put the whole spectrum of life on earth in jeopardy. Trump wants to protect the fossil fuel industry and ignore the consequences. He is an old man and he won't live long enough to see his mistakes before his eyes. He just wants the next election and the devil take the consequences. He wants to stay out of jail. This administration is pulling out all the stops on a race to oblivion. They are lost at sea, running out of food and water and deciding to have a last great feast. Their is no future as far as they are concerned. It all about stealing from the future to have a few good old days now.
6
The USA is not Donald Trump’s personal property. Why do my children and grandchildren have to lose wildlife and resources because of a man with a sick mind? Who is going to explain that to them down the road? Why should the future of this country always be threatened because of a person, Trump, who has no knowledge, and worse, no care about anything but himself?
Trump’s kids go to other parts of the world and participate in the slaughter of innocent animals. That is horrific enough. But to decimate the beauty of this country, both animate and inanimate, is unspeakable.
We live in Wisconsin. Our family past and present walks hand in hand in nature, as do many people here. We’ve tried to hold legislators accountable when they’ve put greed before our future generations. Is anyone going to do that with Trump? We should not have to beg.
Republicans have been willing to take away healthcare, public education, and now natural resources, wildlife, and more. They need to be held accountable in 2020. Our real country is being dissolved before our very eyes. Is no one watching, or does no one just care?
Not my country. My forefathers would weep and they were the lumber workers, the road builders, the railroad leaders, the strongmen of our country who forged ahead, but still cherished their earth, the wildlife, their natural world. That is who they were.
Who are we?
11
@MIMA Let's you and me not be part of the "we." And there are thousands like us, too, who can fight this beast in the Oval Office and his rich industrialists. Like you in Wisconsin, so many of us Californians embrace the simplicity and elegance of nature. I just do not understand how Trump's supporters can not comprehend that his goal is to harm the living - including them - while enriching himself and his partners in crime....because what they are doing is criminal.
5
I work with a Trump supporter who also considers themselves a super Christian. Wears a cross, gets offended at swearing, loves animals. I don't know if she is even aware of this. Is it on Fox? Is it in her Facebook feed? Did Trump brag about doing this in a tweet? If not then there is a real possibility this woman has no idea he is even doing this.
Never underestimate how successful Trump has been getting 30% to ignore reality and blindly just listed to his "approved" sources. These people live in an alternate world. For some reason they never question why it is the whole world is reporting a reality different than what Trump tells them.
11
@Blackcat66
Be interesting to hear what this "Christian" thinks when someone reads her the Gospels for the first time.
3
Trump and Bernhardt can talk all they want about energy independence but what they are really speaking about is continued profits from drilling and mining.They have a greedy agenda which does fly in the face of science.If they really wanted energy independence they would embrace solar energy and electric cars-both are the energy of the future and will happen.The oil and mining industries are trying in vain to hold on to their strangle hold on the energy economy but they will fail as the cigarette companies failed to sicken the entire population with their products.Carbon emissions must be cut if we are to survive even as the climate changes-old energy will be defeated-we must fight this harder than ever!
4
This administration has (again) handed their political opposition a rallying cry on a silver platter. Let's hope they use it wisely:
Yes - "Save Our Borders!" -- Save, protect and defend the borders within our country - which means: our water, our air, our environment, our natural resources, our wildlife, our grandchildren's future.
"Keep our borders secure! Our right to sovereignty!" -- Yes! Starting with individual sovereignty, i.e., all persons' rights to make decisions about their own bodies. Our right to be safe from "invasions" of unsolicited assaults (e.g., guns, sexual aggression, hateful epithets, etc.).
We can only hope that who ever it is that challenges this cult-of-evil in 2020 will attempt to appeal to the love of the planet and to hope of our future generations. It's going to be very difficult to sway those with blind devotion to this demagogue, but perhaps there will be enough voters out there who can be deprogrammed to make it happen.
1
While all eyes are on issues like immigration, the stripping of regulations protecting what's left of nature may be Trump's longest-lasting scar on America.
4
There is no reason why our Executive Branch should have this much power. How can one man overturn 50 years of bipartisan law? This is insane
And when did the environment, clean air, clean water become enemy #1 to the GOP? Do these people not have children or grandchildren??
9
This, more than any other aspect of the Trump administration, shows how spiritually hollow and bankrupt the so called religious right is. By allowing the destruction of God's creation for the pursuit of profit they are turning the book of Genesis into a prophecy. They are committing the original sin that will drive man out of the Garden of Eden.
3
I'm baffled as to why this administration can blithely change or outright ignore the intent of a major piece of legislation passed by both houses of Congress.
And now this tepid response from Senators too afraid or lazy to challenge presidential overreach regarding the rules already established by Congress?
What's endangered here are not only the flora and fauna of our beautiful nation's bountiful resources--but also the will of the people as expressed through Congress.
It's as if Trumpism not has not only become the poster child for rampant, ugly and destructive capitalism; it's cynically corrupting the longstanding intent of the people to cherish and protect America's natural beauty.
4
Whenever there's a morally correct course of action, you can be sure Trump and the GOP will do the opposite.
4
This is just another example of the Republican Party simply not caring about anything that doesn't personally impact them. They don't care about species, endangered or not, that don't look like the one reflecting back at them in the mirror. If left to the Republican Party, which was every bit as shortsighted prior to hitching their caboose to the Trump train to nowhere, this country will soon be every bit as reminisced about as Rome and Greece before it. In centuries to come, the big question will be: "What caused the vaunted U.S of A to collapse". The answer: Putting self before country.
3
This administration puts me into despair and then compounds it daily. It's like a bad dream that won't end.
3
Back in 1970, Neil Young released "After the Gold Rush," and one of the lines was, "Look at Mother Nature on the run." The real irony is that we can't separate "Mother Nature" from ourselves by acting as if we have hegemony over her. What we do to the world we do to ourselves. Neither Mother Nature or we have anywhere to run and pretending otherwise is a fool's folly. All the money gained by plundering the earth will not buy even the richest among us another breath of air when the planet is choking on the consequences of our greed.
3
The most important of all endangered "species" is the giant blue glacier, inhabiting the polar regions.
Even wealthy Florida golfers will be affected by its extinction.
3
It is no exaggeration to say that the modern Republican Party has become the enemy of life on Earth. They are undermining our last opportunity to save ourselves from global climate change. They are sabotaging our modest efforts to protect endangered and threatened species. They seek to undo the progress we have made to reduce car pollution and factory pollution.
Lest we forget, they are also hostile to the least effort to protect our people from gunfire: that would lessen the gun producers' profits. That's the real reason.
When families arrive at our southern border to seek refuge, they take the children from their parents, even toddlers, and place them in filthy prisons to send a message to their base and to future refugees. Little could be worse for a child.
They always give massive tax cuts where they are not needed, while spending massively on military budgets and arms. Each time they imperil public finances for no good reason. All of their talk about our responsibility to future generations is prattle.
They have a relish for imposing punitive embargoes against entire countries that would be lesser threats to us (or no threat at all) if they were allowed to participate in the world economy (e.g, Cuba).
They bang the drums of war and, under G.W., involved us in an immoral war on false pretexts. Now they have drummed up worldwide trade wars. They incite racists to win votes.
How long can our Earth withstand this modern scourge -- the American Republican Party?
3
It is a terrible mistake to believe, even for a moment, that this GOP/Trump administration has hit bottom. All that has been done so far has created a long list of things and actions that need to be "undone".
Now we have a movement that works against life itself, life as we have known it. I hesitate now to kill a wasp that is simply clinging to life for some reason. What happens when life is no longer cherished? Do we need bears, wolves, bees, trees? Yes, we need them all.
Will we wake up in enough numbers to save ourselves? I wonder when that will actually happen. A dark day for some of us. Sorry, my wife is baking bread now. That will cheer me up.
1
The Roll-Back of the Nixon's Environmental Protection Act is simply just the latest of crimes against the planet, science, man, and all living things by the Trump Administration.
How is it that the country that put men on the moon has become the most Anti-Science & Anti Education industrialized country on this planet.
Our need to pay close attention and continue to protect those animals and plants on the Endangered Species List is critical for the continuation of "Our Species" as well.
By their silence, each and every single member of the GOP is 100% complicit in Trump's War against Mankind and the Planet.
. . . And all for Dollars !
For Trump, it is also much more than just "dollars" . . . he, like a screaming child in the shopping cart just has to have the treat his mother refuses . . .
But in this case, Trump MUST destroy everything put in place by Obama . . . and everything else that stands in the way of he and his "friends" from profiting - no matter what the horrific cost to our planet.
3
Trump is concerned about the economics of the Endangered Species Act yet he's spent 110 million taxpayers' dollars in two years just playing golf. Doesn't sound like he's too concerned about economics.
3
First, I cannot stand Trump. He is an ignorant and cruel agent of chaos.
Having said that there are sound reasons to wonder why we bother protecting many endangered species: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/we-dont-need-to-save-endangered-species-extinction-is-part-of-evolution/2017/11/21/57fc5658-cdb4-11e7-a1a3-0d1e45a6de3d_story.html ("We don’t need to save endangered species. Extinction is part of evolution." Nov 2017). Part of the point of that article is that "extinction is the engine of evolution."
I get that we should worry about the general poisoning of the planet, that the profit motive is, by itself, potentially and predictably destructive and that unchecked capitalism can cause a lot of damage. We have been warned about these things for a very long time.
I still wonder why our focus should be on the protection of endangered species? That does not mean we cannot find reasons that perhaps we should protect some of them, or that we happen to like the biodiversity they represent. Are we just running ourselves in circles with all this? Can there be a definitive answer? Arguably not.
Thank you for articulating with detail and clarity the actions and consequences of the latest Trump rollback of cherished environmental protections. I feel helpless in trying to fight this onslaught of Trumpian environmental degradation; letters to Senators and Congress bring the usual form-letter non-committal responses (except Tammy Baldwin, who is on our side). As the Apollo 8 astronauts took the famous "earth rising" photo they in various ways remarked on the importance of protecting our beautiful blue planet in the midst of a vast, lifeless solar system, as did Carl Sagan when Voyager took the famous photo of earth--a small blue dot--from the far reaches of our solar system. How sad that decades later, our planet is beset by human-caused destruction, of our environment through the anti-science actions of Trump and his minions, and of human life by mass shootings rooted in hate. We have the knowledge and will to reverse these trends. For the dignity and sanctity of all human life, all living things, and our amazing planet, America must remove this dictatorial, ignorant, and hate-fomenting president and his cabal.
1
Todays conservative "movement" is not conservative. It is radically reactionary to the point of being seditious and it controls the Republican Party.
That is the ugly and, for the country and world, dangerous reality that so many in the press and the Democratic Party fail to grasp.
Remember that a vote for a Republican, ANY Republican, is a vote to empower that dangerous "movement" to carry out it's destructive agenda.
3
Anyone who denies climate change should be barred from holding office for lacking the intelligence for making decisions that effects the health of their constituents and the planet. The warped, cruel decisions by this Administration has generated untold millions in Court costs since Inaugural day, all money better spent elsewhere. That is a good point to be brought up by primary contenders, the next Administration will be faced with rebuilding each sector of government this one has deliberately destroyed.
3
I have really had it with a few wealthy evil-doers undermining key laws that 70 - 90% of americans support. they need to stop and listen to us or else we will just keep suing, blocking and boycotting your businesses and those who do business with you until you are gone. enough.
3
God make it stop. I can't take much more of this violence/wilful ignorance. What's it going to take for us to wake up? The destruction/transformation for profit of every natural resource on the planet?
And then what? We stand in ruins.
3
This has to be among the lowest of the low things this admin has done. And trump doesn’t even care about any of this. He has no core beliefs. Someone whispers in his ear and voila! The damage is promised and delivered.
3
This undermining of the Endangered Species Act by the
Trump administration can be stopped. Vote the man out of
office in 2020 and save our environment!
3
I would like to see a plan from environmental activists to punish these Trump White House officials, and their key supporters, after the Trump presidency ends. What ways can we label these creeps and corporate financiers for life, and make sure they cannot damage our nation further. This should include boycotts for the polluters and resistance against their lobbyists.
3
There is nothing dominating about environmental disaster. These know-nothings in Trump & Co should have zero to do with the planet’s longevity.
3
Livestock production on public lands ruins more public acreage than logging, mining and energy development combined. NYT: please report on this! The cow is not the buffalo. It is an invasive species non-native to America and ill-suited to the West's arid landscape, where native buffalo/bison (and other native species) have been decimated to make room for these truly destructive and inefficient grazers.
The USDA 's "wildlife services" kills endangered species at taxpayer expense to protect cattle and sheep on land being leased from the federal government by the Kochs, Walmart heirs, Hilton family, JR SImplot Corp (and other individuals and corps on Forbes rich lists) at a steep subsidy. Cliven Bundy may be the face of this wasteful program, but these rich folk are the ones taking advantage of it. Look them up!
Buffalo, wolves, bears, sage grouse, riparian areas — all endangered — are trampled under the feet of cattle who do outsized damage compared to their profile.
And yet, the Times demonizes the energy and mining execs, and their drills and mines while ignoring the cattle and sheep dotting the landscape and destroying it.
Cowboys, grazing leases and millions of private sheep and cattle destroy what mining and energy development don't. The three need to be exposed.
3
I want to resist all this madness, but how?
I eat organic as much as possible. I have a no-till garden with lots of sunflowers and other natives for pollinators. I reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot (compost). I have solar panels. I walk to work.
I vote. I've spoken before my county commissioners and my school board about the need to address this climate crisis. I send small monthly donations to 350 dot org and the Sunrise Movement. I plan on attending the Global Climate Strike on September 20th.
What else can I do? How can I face my 8-year-old niece, who loves her two dogs and her backyard chickens and the bunnies and squirrels and birds who visit her backyard, when she learns that we live on a dying planet and we're taking all other species with us? Well, maybe not all species. Maybe the cockroaches will survive...
4
I'd call oil lobbyist/Interior Secretary Bernhardt the "FOX in the hen house", but I'm not sure if that wonderful species of animal will outlast the term of boss's destructive compulsion for immediate gratification at the expense of the world we live in.
3
Trump is becoming the Commander in Death with no foresight for the future at all.
The kicker is that the US taxpayer owns these lands,not the Trump Administration, and the fees for the mineral and gas rights to access and make tens of millions, now hundreds due to fraking, in profit for decades has been given away by The Interior Department at a virtual no cost to these multinational corporations.
Talk about crony socialism...these guys are all a bunch of hypocrites and once again Trump is abusing his Executive Powers.
If Trumps wants to gut the ESA and deplete all of our natural resources within 20 years well the US tax payer should reap 50% of all profits extracted from Federal landsperiod!
It's what these corporations already due in China. Its called the cost of doing business but has Trump even suggested that?
No because these folks are the " job creators."
The problem is that we continually shift the true costs, and the risks , to the US tax payer and not the corporations.
The amount of water that has been permanently depleted from one gas shale well can range from 390,000 to 6.27 million gallons and for oil shale granted it is lower... down to 70,000 to 2 million gallons per well.One adult in the US on average can use just over 40,000 of water for the entire years.
Trump economics will have the inter mountain west depleted of water within 20 years.
4
Money from natural resource exploitation will be useless once the planet is stripped bare of what sustains us.
4
I probably won't be on this spinning rock when it happens, but I'm convinced with the scuttling of this act, future politiocians and talking heads will have a field day pointing fingers at each other for the reasons why some species are extinct.
3
The fact is probably any Republican administration would pursue and implement some of the same draconian, anti-democracy, anti-freedom agenda we see from Trump and company.
Just look at the stated agenda of even the Romney campaign in 2012 regarding stupid, ineffectual, dogmatic tax cuts for wealthy, made up, superstitious abortion restrictions, science denial, slavish cow-tow to corporate interests, gun lobby, and the most insane policies on most everything foreign and domestic.
Plus far right judges to stamp it all legal.
I breathed with relief when the "moderate" Romney / Ryan ticket went down in 2012.
The Trump fiasco is was expected once a Republican regained power.
This attack on ESA along with rest of the Radical Republican, tired, pathetic, predictable playbook proves one thing-
The core of that party has gone insane.
It's a cult at this point and trying to change a cult and its hypnotized adherents is not easy.
Their classic gang mentality becomes their religion - hard to change from without, dangerous to challenge from within.
We all know what happens to gang members who stray.
And, here's a further problem.
When one group radicalizes, the counter group often does the same.
People on the left beware.
It may feel good to cloister into hard-shell thinking to take a stand.
This wiil repel moderates needed to turn the tide and begin a process of rebalancing our society.
Fight fire with water, not more fire.
Normal, calm, smart wins in 2020.
3
It’s not just weakening of the Endangered Species Act. Every single that this administration does seems like the work of a cartoon villain. In fact, after reading the lengthy article about Stephen Miller and his anti-immigrant agenda, I said to myself: “This guy could be a supervillain on The Venture Bros. cartoon show.”
3
Harry Truman had a sign in his desk “The buck stops here.” Trumps sign must read “Anything for a buck.” This Administration won’t rest until the last eagle is dead and the last dollar has been wrung out of the Earth.
3
We should live and let live.
1
Trump and his corporate henchmen have absolutely no sense of fellowship, empathy or compassion for Americans who don't fit the profile of white supremacy.
So why on earth would any of them even possibly care about the existence of sentient creatures who can't make political donations, vote against their own self-interest, assert self-harm as their preferred lifestyle, demand the right to conceal/carry at church bingo nights and neighborhood yard sales, enrich the Trumps by purchasing multiple red made-in-China MAGA caps, and -- except for parrots and a few other feathered friends -- don't speak English?
In the parlance of those who look at the world and see only price-tags attached to everything, what do creatures endangered or otherwise have of value?
Other than the Trump boys who value endangered and iconic creatures like elephants, lions, cape buffaloes, bighorn sheep, etc., as mounted trophy heads in the foyer of Mar-a-Lago (next to the fake Time magazine covers of their orange progenitor).
They make great ice-breakers when schmoozing with NFL cheerleaders or hosting big game hunter Ted Nugent.
But that's how America cleaves in half these dark days: save endangered species and habitats or drill baby drill.
Whichever, it's less "Like a Plan From a Cartoon Villain" than the creepiest passage from a Stephen King nightmare in book form.
Expect an oil derrick instead of an eagle on new dollar bills.
The fact is, with Trump, everything is endangered.
4
The Endangered Species Act, along with the banning of toxic chemicals such as DDT, resulted in the resurgence of the hitherto threatened population of Bald Eagles in this country. It is now not uncommon to see nesting pairs in the wild. The iconic symbols of The United States. Oh the irony.
Trump, the cartoon villain, wakes up every morning looking for eyes in which to poke his stubby thumb.
4
Can I suggest a solution ?
Trump must be flushed into oblivion.
And hopefully enough of his Republican lackies will also be deemed “suitable for disposal.”
3
As we gut the environment the Republicans and Trump continue to make America a laughing stock while pillaging our resources and democracy. The Democrats continue to remain on sideline sniping at each other making them small and insignificant. Shameful actions by all our elected officials.
The age of Trump: every day a new affront to science, to decency, to alliances, to humanity, to American institutions, to the mental and emotional equilibrium we all need to function, to common sense, to intelligent reasoned governance.
Every day I gasp, cringe and worry.
I cry for the children in cages.
I cry for the species in danger.
I cry for the diabetics who can’t afford insulin.
I cry for the Muslims separated from relatives by the ban.
I cry for the women struggling to manage their reproductive lives.
I cry for the transgendered workers they want the right to fire.
I cry for the Hispanic victims in El Paso.
I cry for the children who came home from school to an empty home.
And the fatigue grows. I wore out my running shoes working to flip a Congressional seat in the last election. But the hoped-for shift in the GOP, from cautious acquiescence to principled non-compliance with this administration’s corruption, chaos, anti-science behavior and indecency, has never materialized. They are actually getting worse! Senator Cornyn’s snarky climate change ignorance today and Steve King’s disgusting comments about rape and incest last week are the latest examples of their despicable behaviors. Trump has made the gutter the natural habitat for his party. The crudest, coarsest, most offensive words are commonplace. Their incomprehensible flouting of science and their joy in pumping up their fat cat corporate buddies at the expense of our planet’s health are atrocious.
4
Two more years... unless the the Democratic left blows it, or another Nader or Jill Klein hands the presidency back to him. If this isn't an existential crisis requiring we accept the possible and the good, rather than lose all in pursuit of some unobtainable perfect, then we are doomed.
3
The carnage in the movie "Fargo" comes to an end with the diligent pollice woman capturing the suspect and driving him, handcuffed, to jail. She questions why all the mayhem and murder ever took place. "And for what? A little money?"
Exactly the same with this administrtion. Callous disregard. Greed.
6
This is the Republican American way. Republicans ruin everything everywhere to suit their personal egos. You all seem to have terrible memories considering the last Republican left with the entire country on fire...but here you all went again in 2016, voting Republican and hoping for a better result. So far this guy has ruined American standing and sent a message that Republicans are Autocrats. His Coup De Grace will be another Republican Recession.
1
Those new rules will be reversed after the victory of the Democrats over the obscurantist GOP in 2020.
1
Basically, everything Trump does is like a plan from a cartoon villain. It is truly terrible and heartbreaking to experience this complete breakdown of moral, ethics and common sense.
The world will never be the same.
We will never be the same.
3
We’re living in a cartoon world being led by cartoon figures. These ‘adults’ remind me of the malicious bullies that go from ant hill to ant hill burning ants with a magnifying glass. Their pathology moves on to harming people. Wait, they’ve already done that too. The only thing remaining is torturing pets. This president uses the word ‘disgusting’ when he wants to bully someone via Twitter. I think it better typifies him than his victims. Sick people do sick things for sick reasons.
3
Your accompanying photo is spot on. Trump's villainy is plain for all to see.
Anyone who praises this, and every other deregulatory action by the administration, fails to understand the fragile nature of the environment's intersection with human existence. We have been warned again and again that failure to pursue reasonable stewardship of the earth threatens our well-being. And the evidence of our failure exists all around us, in species extinction, in the worst growing season across the United States because of excessive flooding and heat, in rising levels of pollution related health problems. And on a practical level Trump's view of energy dominance is just moronic as the price of energies that allow us to tread more lightly on the planet become cheaper than the fossil fuels that are killing us.
3
It’s about time we achieved some balance in environmental regulatory law. For too long, environmental regulations have been used as weapons to infringe upon private property rights. Of course everyone desires clean air, clean water, and sustainable habitat for all of God’s creatures. But expansive environmental regulations have been used as weapons to shut down the development of much needed housing in areas where there are acute housing shortages, thus driving up housing costs, retarding economic growth since employees can’t find decent affordable housing and even exacerbating homelessness
NIMBYs of all political stripes, who profess to be for affordable housing in their communities, “but in the right place and just not here,” have pursued the proliferation of environmental regulations, ostensively based on the “best science,” which is often no science, to stop construction of new homes in their jurisdictions with help from their politicians. Similarly, Senators Ted Kennedy and Lamar Alexander, not thought of being of the same political persuasions, where both against the Cape Wind Project in Nantucket Sound because the project would have adversely affected the view-sheds from their homes in Hyannis and Nantucket respectively. So much for wind power!
Unfortunately, environmental regulations have been used to segregate the “haves” from the “have-nots!” So un-American! It’s time they should serve all.
1
It is true. We can't save them all. Extinction, including our own, is a natural process. But that doesn't mean we have to hasten, in intention and malice, the eradication of all species but our own from this planet. Even the Trump juniors want game to shoot and kill.
You can't conserve what is gone. What is it that so-called conservatives are conserving?
1
Donald Trump is an existential threat to the USA and the world. Virtually every cabinet member is dedicated to destroying the department they are tasked to lead (save Commerce.) Commerce won’t matter if we have no clean water to drink, no clean air to breathe and our food sources are fouled. The “onerous” regulations Trump is jettisoning willy-nilly will accelerate conflict among nations. In 2020, Trump must be defeated in order for us to survive and that is not hyperbole.
3
This transcends politics. It defines a culture. Trump and his supporters are the horrendous perpetrators in Avatar, are they not? Defend this and you are complicit. Cheer him on at his rallies and you are perpetuating the worst mankind has to offer. I am a white woman who detests the ways of too many white men. The only voices I can identify with are those of native peoples, people of color, and women. And anyone who supports this is no friend of mine, period. Forever. Unforgivable.
4
This action by the Trump administration is another reason to vote Trump and ALL republicans out of office!
1
We, you need to stop using energy in profigate ways. Your comfort/lifestyle is directly related to demand for energy products. You know exactly what I'm talking about.
Or we can wait till they run out of/pollute their water. Should be a good race.
My money is on Greta.
Why am I not surprised that Trump and his band of thugs are gutting the ESA? For years I have watched, up close, those who see no value in or respect for the natural world, in Colorado, Maine, and Idaho.
Trees are for cutting, wild animals are for shooting and trapping, and habitat is worthless if they can’t drive a big truck or smelly snowmobile across it, or bulldoze it for a fracking pad.
Trump and company are racing the clock to make sure to disrupt and damage all of that which most Americans value.
The sins of these villains shall be visited upon their children’s children and, wearing the Trump Stain, they will hang their heads in shame.
3
Trump also gets the additional benefit of letting his cretinous sons run wild in the wilderness with high powered rifles shooting beautiful animals for head trophies on their walls.
It was bad enough he was denigrating our environment for his super rich friends now the creatures that roam our planet have a death warrant on their heads.
Trump is "The Most Dangerous Game".
4
"Dominance." That's the key word where Trump is concerned. Rather Freudian.
1
Yes, the evidence is clear; we are destroying our only home. But USA is been governed by unbelievably ignorant, selfish individuals. That’s also an undeniable fact.
Members of this Congress have a moral responsibility with all living species, including us, to get rid of this madman named Trump. It seems to me that they don’t realize the grave danger this President poses to the whole world.
We are approaching the terminal stage of the disease….quite fast.
3
The Republicans specially Pres. Donald Trump administration has put thumbs down on the environment over big money, I wonder how manage black money, or big lobbyists tear down the our environment they have a scorch earth urge policy. Pouring out of the Paris peace accord for the environment. Donald Trump knows as well he won't be alive in 50 years but maybe any his children will find that his policies where he killed off the bald Eagle the Bears and the birds over money this is a very dangerous president. But Nancy Pelosi will not start impeachment policies that Pres. Donald Trump was involved in many criminal activities and been given a pass from Nancy Pelosi.
Everybody should be writing to their Congressman or Sen. to change the ruling environmentally.
Before it's too late Donald Trump is a master of deceit. A pathological liar why haven't they doctors that he's on capable, ruling or dictating in United States of America.
1
The Constituion requires of the president that "he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." In the case of the Endangered Species Act, this administration is showing the opposite. Here is yet one more of the many examples of impeachable offenses by this president. He must go.
1
Gutting the Endangered Species Act is not "LIKE a plan from a cartoon villain;" it IS a plan from a cartoon villain, surrounded by a gang of pliant angry clowns.
3
Honestly, I find myself almost wishing for some disaster to occur as a result of being so flippant towards nature so that these fools can live to see the destruction of their so-called economies that they hold so close to their hearts. Yes I know I myself would not be spared in such a scenario, but I'm willing to take one for the sake of Earth.
1
Editorial Board,
You missed the Bristol Bay Pebble Mine in Alaska and how that was force fed despite the scientific analysis and common sense. We will destroy the largest salmon fishery in the world too.
What did you or any of millions of Americans that either voted Trump or were apathetic or had a purity test against H. Clinton expect to happen with a Trump “Presidency”? Trump was very transparent about his anti-environmentalism, anti-immigration, pro-rich tax policy his plan for the courts and his racism, especially against Latinos. But liberals stayed apathetic and came with 1,000 excuses why they couldn’t vote.
Time to pay the piper and it’s going to hurt badly. And it should.
You knew what kind of people this new Republican was. Republicans are like spoiled/selfish children. They don’t care about anything but immediate gratification masked as “freedom”. Anything that slows down the right to convenience is going to be stopped. They consume like locusts. They just assume the good times will always roll.
The 2016 results have to hurt the people who did not exercise their right to vote. That is the only way lessons on apathy can be learned. If the left leaning people don’t vote in 2020, it will mark the beginning of a very dystopian future for everybody. The rich will always be ok. But the rest will stew in toxic air, poisoned food and shorter life expectancy.
If you give a flip about a livable environment. Don’t Boo or (write angry editorials)....VOTE!
3
It isn't "energy dominance."
It is "rape and pillage the environment now, for profit, now and devil take the hindmost." Or, if you like, the change of our national motto from "E pluribus unum" to "I got mine."
Saving a species is less important than extracting as much wealth out of the ground, right now, regardless of impact, for a few people to be able to pass that wealth down to their own offspring while destroying the prospects for other people's descendants for time to come.
People, birds, animals - they count for nothing when there is a buck to be made, right here, right now.
3
there's nothing quite as short sighted as the energy/environmental policies of a bunch of old, out-of-touch capitalists who are going to die soon and won't have to live in the world they are currently destroying. capitalism kills.
4
Rape, pillage and plunder and destroy the natural environment and our heritage for short term economic gain for the few. I was t in Bear's Ears a couple of months ago. The shrinkage of the monument by over 80% was guided by mining interests with thousands of Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) sites and the beautiful unique canyon country vulnerable to destruction. It is so disheartening to see decades of progress and our value systems so degraded by Trump and his money thirsty minions.
3
Trump and his corporate henchmen have absolutely no sense of fellowship, empathy or compassion for Americans who don't fit the profile of white supremacy.
So why on earth would any of them even note the existence of sentient creatures who can't make political donations, vote against their own self-interest, assert self-harm as their preferred lifestyle, demand the right to conceal/carry at church bingo nights and neighborhood yard sales, enrich the Trumps by purchasing multiple red made-in-China MAGA caps, and -- except for parrots and a few other feathered friends -- don't speak English?
In the parlance of those who look at the world and see only price-tags attached to everything, what do creatures endangered or otherwise have to deal? Other than the genetically luckless Trump boys who value endangered and iconic creatures like elephants, lions, cape buffaloes, bighorn sheep, etc., as mounted trophy heads in the foyer of Mar-a-Lago (next to the fake Time magazine covers of their orange progenitor). Great ice-breakers when schmoozing with NFL cheerleaders and the likes of Epstein and "Oriental Massage" afficionadi like Patriots owner Bob Kraft.
But that's how America cleaves in half these dark days: save endangered species and habitats or drill baby drill.
Whichever, it's less "Like a Plan From a Cartoon Villain" than the creepiest passage from a Stephen King nightmare in book form.
Expect an oil derrick instead of an eagle on new dollar bills.
3
Wouldn’t it be an instance of “natural justice” if this anti-interior Interior Secretary Bernhardt, a well placed shill for the fossil fuel industry, was attacked by a grizzly on his next trip to Yellowstone. Or, that his kayak was overturned by a voracious alligator on a fact finding visit to the Everglades. One can only hope, for these Trumpian destroyers of the environment.
3
Trump lies. It is laughable to even consider the rationale that his minions offer.
3
The GOP Scoreboard:
Life: Zero
Big Business: Everything
7
Why are we allowing ego and greed to remove safety from every species. ?
Are we all collectively gone mad?
remove the 6 Authoritarians in our world governments now.
trump must be jailed et al soon and these affronts on the earth corrected immediately.
3
Trump is halting abuse by far left interest groups. Harry Reid kicked ranchers off grazing BLM land because tortoises, then leased the land to foreign solar farms. They actually gathered up tortoises and killed them because they were in the way of installing solar panels. Harry Reid made millions off the deal. All in the same of conserving tortoises.
Most people love animals in this country. This action by could change the vote of some GOP voters, but
I’m afraid the majority of GOP voters will never hear about it. They’ll just get fed the explanation that Trump rolls back government overreach to make America great, and that these regulations were stupid to begin with.
1
Trump is leading us to the Dystopian world of Soylent Green where all animal life is extinct and nature only exists on large video monitors for people to recall a former time.
Buddism teaches that bad people will come back as a lower form of life, Trump will surely become a cockroach in his next life!
1
All hail the mighty oil industry. Hats off to the gas extractors, the clear cutters, the housing developers and chemical companies. trump is their guy. No tree, nor blade of grass, nor national park- and the species that depend on them- shall be spared in their epic battle to profit at the expense of everything and everyone else.
The bean counter's shortsightedness doesn't matter, because trump isn't looking much beyond November 2020. His every action is aimed at getting the money class on his side to bankroll his rise to the throne.
trump the builder fails at every level. No wall, no infrastructure improvements, no health care plan, no legislation. trump the destroyer is wildly successful. Congress makes the laws, but so does trump and his captive Supreme Court, pushing an agenda to serve the privileged few.
Yet, the talking heads still speak of him winning re- election solely on the economy staying lukewarm.
Greed is the new religion. Idiocy is the new agenda.
4
It’s disheartening that the US is doubling down on fossil fuels while sustainable energy solutions will be available in a few years that solve the timing problem (day/night, summer/winter): hydrogen solar panels that capture hydrogen directly out of the air’s moisture to store on site, solid state batteries, etc.
It’s the main reason why voting Republican is never an option for me, even when Democrats are hopelessly naive on issues like trade, immigration and locally corrupt/incompetent in Chicago and Illinois. The joys of a two party system...
1
Since 2016 tens of $millions have flowed into Republican coffers from the oil and gas industries, and millions more from the extractive industries and electricity producers. We know that nothing motivates Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell more than cold, hard cash, and unfortunately that's true for most in the Republican party.
It is beyond heartbreaking to go into the field, whether it be woodlands, or meadows or grasslands, and find that already 50% or more of the flowers, birds or butterflies that were easy to see even 10 years ago, cannot be found.
2020 may already be too late for some species to hang on, so we need Democrats to rise up and act vigorously to halt this president and his party's imbecilic plan to denude our country of what makes it so beautiful and rich in resources.
4
No one has been able to successfully stop the criminality of this administration from destroying nature, our plants and animals and the earth.
Eventually, those actions along with science and including climate denial, sooner rather than later, will enable earth's destruction, our own lives, and those of our children.
There will be no need to see movies made about that. It will be happening in real time, across the world and include our lawns, houses, roads and what is left of our unrepaired infrastructure.
And it will include those who sanctioned it along with our children, who didn't deserve such a future and end.
4
The Board is a bit off the mark.
Saving the life of "the canary in the mine" is not the ultimate goal in coal mines. Sure we like birds but......
Saving clean air to breath for all creatures big and small is the goal i.e. saving habitat. If the canary is saved then the miners are saved.
The Board writes "The point of the act is to keep species from becoming endangered or, even worse, blinking out."
The Endangered Species Act in reality is aimed at preserving Homo sapiens though it is an open question whether they are worth saving.
7
Out here in flyover country, where we have more than our fair share of threatened and endangered charismatic megafauna, we know they matter. They matter because grizzly bears, bald eagles, and wolves on the landscape are important to who we are as westerners. They matter because they require large expanses of high quality public lands that help drive our economy. These are the romance lands of the US.
That economy is based not just on tourism and amenity development. We attract tech workers, entrepreneurs, and all sorts of people with high social capital that help our communities thrive. The real economic impact of the ESA is not a threat to rural America - it is a net benefit.
12
Gutting environmental regulations to improve corporate profits. That's the aim of the Trump Administration. DJT would love to be able to landfill wetlands to build more golf courses that he would only use via a golf cart.
So Sad.
24
This is nothing new. It started with Reagan, persisted with Bush I, got some help from Clinton thanks to regulatory capture and his famously self-serving triangulation, resumed brazenly under Cheney, and Obama was insufficient and in some instances unforgivably late, so confident was he that his "legacy" was so monumental, only Hillary could succeed him.
4
"the interior secretary and a former oil lobbyist". I laughed at that statement, so I wouldn't cry. Once again the *who* in the Trump administration tells you most of what you need to know about the *what*.
30
Energy Dominance? Republicans have thrown away the enormous lead we could have had in real energy dominance for decades to come. Remember when Jimmy Carter pushed the development of solar energy, even putting solar panels on the White House? Enter Ronald Reagan, and good bye solar panels and all efforts to develop the green energy (and economy) of the future; hello drill-baby-drill. Same with the oil-soaked Bush and Cheney families. The US, not Germany could have been the leaders in global wind power manufacturing and production. The US, not China, could today own the solar revolution. But that healthier, prosperous future (and present) was stolen from us by the Republican Party and its donors from fossil-fuel industries. Destroying our planet AND destroying our economy - way to go GOP!
37
Quite apart from the moral issue of destroying God's creations for the sake of mere profit, it has always puzzled me that those who support Trump are not aware that their political support will virtually guarantee that the planet we bequeath to our children will be in a catastrophic condition.
It's absolutely true that the United States is not the cause of all the world's ills. Countries such as Brazil's deforestation of the Amazon are guilty of crimes against mother Earth. China is THE MOST egregious polluter and consumer of coal. Japan is in the process of killing off the last of the worlds whales.
But what the United States does have is the most powerful voice to eliminate or ameliorate these environmental issues. Without the leadership of the United State, our planet's future and our children's future is severely at risk.
Is this something we want to bequeath to our children?
Trump's moral authority is not just compromised, in the eyes of the world it is non-existent.
22
Oh, they’re quite aware. They just don’t care.
7
How is it so easy for these already-in-place laws and protections so easily overturned? It makes me SO angry and sad that the progress that has been made in protecting our beautiful country is so easily crossed out. It took a long time to get them in place. and to see their effects. Why is it ok to throw away the health and well being of the Earth and those who live on it, including us? I don't understand why areas that are designated public lands, and preserves and monuments, and have been for a long time, can be overturned, shrunk and destroyed so easily. It should be really difficult to pillage and plunder our public lands; they belong to all of us.
50
@ALB If you're asking how it's possible, he's overturning rules by executive order which he can do with a stroke of his pen. As the editorial board says,he's "throwing sand in the machinery"; removing the teeth of existing laws. One way is to change important definitions within the law so that the law will be interpreted in a way that supports Trump and his corporate billionaire friends in the energy sector.
20
The more we learn about Epstein's financial dealings (grifting, Ponzi scheme, being able to hang onto his relationships with big name financial firms because they feared losing the business of his powerful friends) the more parallels there are with how Trump gained and hangs onto power.
13
Further evidence that the future world for people under forty is going to become a dismal and unstable place, should right-wing rule be allowed to continue. It is those same citizens under forty who all need to show up and vote, even if their most favorite non-republican doesn’t end up on the ballot. 2020 is no longer just another election, it has become a global emergency.
55
Trump's idea of "energy dominance" is to sell off our public lands and endanger our species -- humankind being the ultimate victim -- for outmoded sources like coal, oil and gas. But real energy dominance will be achieved by nations that harness environmentally friendly alternatives like wind, solar and others yet to be discovered. China is already well ahead of us in this regard, especially on the solar front, while pulling ahead in other fields like high speed rail, AI and G5. Trump and the former lobbyists he has chosen to ruin our planet are ignoring warning signs that coal mines are closing, not reopening, and investors are abandoning shale oil production in the Permian Basin.
59
There are no words to adequately describe my anger and my sorrow at these actions on the part of the US federal administration. How much damage will they do to the environment (as well as to world affairs in general) before they are stopped?
93
@Brenda Bacon
I'll "be there" on election day, cousin, and do my best!
4
Energy policy is climate change policy. Our greed and aggressiveness may make us the most endangered species on earth. The problem is that unlike the other endangered species, we humans will take down the whole planet with us. The implications are frightening.
74
And, sadly, if what you say actually does happen because we decent humans did not prevent the action of “The Destructionists” by kicking them out and flushing them down, then our human race will mutate into another life form that will be able to exist on what will remain of our once glorious planet.
So, dump Trump and as many Republicans as possible on November 3, 2020 and start saving our nation and our planet for the human race and our animals and plants and air and water !
5
Only a totally irresponsible government acting exclusively on behalf of the mining, drilling and lumber industries and with absolutely no thought or consideration for the heritage of the American people could behave in this way.
To ask such an administration to consider that environmental preservation measures have often been shown to greatly benefit local and surrounding communities in a myriad of complex and interconnected (see Kelsey Arthur's comment above) would be a fool's errand.
There is only one way to stop this wanton destruction of painstakingly built conservation measures. Vote Trump and the GOP out of office in 2020 and hope that it is not too late to repair the damage.
83
How many readers of this comment/column considered joining a conservation group to help save our planet? I sure did.
5
“The proposed changes would make it harder to shield fragile species not only from commercial development like logging and oil and gas drilling, but also from the multiple threats posed by climate change.”
Conservatives say they don’t want their descendants to inherit a world of debt and deficit but they are perfectly willing to leave them with a depleted planet. This does not square.
43
@Oliver
Conservatives 'say'a lot of things. If they 'don’t want their descendants to inherit a world of debt and deficit' why are they creating one.
https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/federal_deficit_chart.html
4
As we embark on the campaign of 2020 (do they ever end?) it would be wise to study what information voters get or choose to listen to when preparing to vote. We tend to treat presidential elections like an American Idol competition. Like the business world our political elections are narrowed down to advertising slogans. Do people who vote for Republicans sift through the fear mongering and hate messaging to discern that they are really voting for a pro-corporate agenda, with pro-corporate judges to uphold the credo of profits over all other values?
35
LIke many other Trump policies, the cruelty is the plan. "we showed those tree huggers" makes a good line at the rally.
108
@Gayle F
Or how about “ you’ve seen one redwood you’ve seen em all” to paraphrase saint Ronald.
5
This piece of legislation has been globally influential, leading to increased efforts in saving species and improvement across the world. If we abandon our commitment to saving species, other nations will follow us. Donald Trump is a sad blip in the history of our nation, but the effects of his indecent assaults on the environment and other species are permanent and irreversible. No one as conscienceless and uninformed as Trump should ever have been in charge of matters so serious. And it is Congress that makes law, not the executive. He must be stopped.
94
With climate change, many species will become extinct regardless of the Endangered Species Act. The Act is quite powerful and has from time to time been abused by environmental groups. The infamous Spotted Owl argument is still raging in the West. But it has also most likely saved many species from extinction in this country. The changes will be challenged and will be in court for many years.
9
@Mike L The spotted owl needed protection. Where is the abuse?
6
The definition of "Contempt" - "the feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn."
It can, and should be generally accepted that Trump, his success in co-opting the Republican Party, his actions not only since becoming President, but throughout his entire business life, are all indications of a persona that is entirely outside, entirely outside, all that is known to be normal in the existence of most human beings, it being understood that most human beings are cognizant of the absolute and critical need to protect our planet and all flora and fauna on it from existential threat.
Trump and those who enable him, and bring to fruition his contemptuous acts, are all synonymous with contempt.
It is normal to accept that existential threats are not acceptable under any circumstances, and in this particular instance, with respect to the deliberate undoing of any part of the endangered species act, specifically to realize greater financial gain, it is simply unconscionable, unscrupulous in the extreme.
There is one widely occurring event in play on the planet now, which will stop these purveyors of disaster cold, significantly so in the next 10 years, and that is the rapidly occurring switch to electric vehicles, not just Tesla, but essentially every manufacturer, everywhere, is involved.
Solar, wind, hydrogen, and kinetic energy developments, are ending, and will permanently end the use of all, "all" fossil fuel use everywhere.
59
@Mel Farrell Dear Mr. Farrell - Thank you...well said.
3
I find this one of the most evil moves this Administration has taken, among many, many others. Why on EARTH is anyone in their right mind still pursuing obtaining fossil fuels? There are technologies already thriving that could promise far more jobs and help slow climate change as well. This made me depressed beyond belief, and I'm already stressed and depressed, as is most of the residents of this country.
177
@ariella Maybe buying Greenland isn’t such a bad idea. Once the ice melts, one humongous solar panel farm! No trees to cut!
Now how do we get that power to the mainland?
8
@ariella
There is nothing right in evil, consequently Trump, being evil, can and must be said to be in his right state of being.
I know it's general semantics, but I think it's important that we clearly define this existential threat, tweeting incessantly from our White House, for what it is.
4
The roll-back by Trump was necessary to counteract the overreached by the Obama administration, specifically in regards to the Sage Grouse. The use of the Endangered Species Act to protect the Sage Grouse was a back door way to stop oil and gas drilling and ranching in the western US, including large parts of Texas, Wyoming and Colorado. It was a disingenuous action by Obama and everyone in those western states knows that. Just like the Snail Darter was used years ago to hamper dam construction by the Tennessee River Authority. The Endangered Species Act does have bipartisan support, but its abuse by radical anti-development environmentalist does not.
4
@Mark V, only one part of your comment is accurate: The Endangered Species Act does have bipartisan support. No one actually believes that the poor oil and gas companies have been victims here. America has already said NO to giving away ALL of our common lands to short term profit for CEOs. They have enough, they don't get it all.
63
It would be so much effective if you responded with facts Rather than hyperbole about oil and gas companies and CEOs. Much of the land effected by the act is privately held and not common. Oil, gas and ranching are vital industries that provide jobs for Americans not just profits for CEOs.
2
The Obama administration did not do nearly enough to help the environment. It was a huge mistake of his and he in fact under-reached to try and be fair and appease environmental raiders. Mark I don’t understand why you hate our country and our planet so much. Is it just racism gone amuck or is there some deep conspiracy to this unpatriotic refrain?
8
To call how I feel as hopeless would be a gross understatement. The human experiment has failed. Greed, ignorance, over-population and religion have driven human kind to the brink of our own extinction and very few people seem to realize it or even care. Our wildlife and our environment are a collateral damage to capitalism. And to add insult, the people that are “in charge” see open space and wildlife as recreation areas to play and species to hunt. We need a revolution in this country. Incrementalism will not be enough. We have to change all of the rules to save this planet.
129
Yes- it is hard to be hopeful. But voting the current administration out in 2020 is one thing to hope for and work towards. Then the real work begins. It will take organization and effort to offset the most calamitous consequences of a warming Earth. I don’t know if it can be done, but not trying is not an option. Despair only brings paralysis... anger is a more useful emotion as it usually engenders energy and action. I’m hopeful that an angry and organized populace can do the work and get the job done. And I’m anticipating that emerging technologies for removing carbon from the atmosphere will play a crucial role in reversing as much as possible the warming trend. Ok - quick review ... VOTE!then Organize! Then DO your part to help us change from fossil fuels to alternatives and efficiency. It is not going to be easy but that’s no reason to give up. There is nothing I can think of that is more important... you?
19
@Dan
Well stated, Dan!
4
@Dan
Don’t let perfection stifle us in throwing out the republicans who support this dastardly administration or those who look away so as not to bring the wrath of trump upon themselves. We all must unite, despite our differences, to remove this stain from our country. This is a nightmare that must end. We have to get their foot off our necks! Our survival depends on it.
7
We do not need to gut the ESA for more energy. The price of gas where I live is $2.65 (sorry CA), I pay a bit more as I refuse to use ethanol. There's something wrong with my Carolla, it's getting over 40 mpg. The sticker on the window said 36 highway. We are already the worlds top producer of natural gas. It would not hurt us to conserve a bit, to act like fuel was scarce while we search for solutions that will not kill the planet.
I hope and pray the next administration goes after everything trump has done with as much zeal as the current one has gone after everything that has Obama's name on it. And we sure do not need to buy Greenland.
84
Consider the Piping Plover and MA beaches. Here many Town beaches and a US wildlife refuge, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, close the beaches/limit public access during the nesting season.
And the reaction from many, not all to be sure, is one of anger that 'their' beach is not open.
There is a some hypocrisy when it comes to environmental protection. In deep blue MA, we are all for protecting the spotted owl - maybe because it is far from us. But when it comes to local protection, well, that is another, matter.
Their is a range of public opinion from citizens on these matters, and it should be aired.
10
@PI Man
Yes, there is a range of opinion about saving species that cannot speak for themselves, that are dependent upon the human voice. The old adage was act locally and think globally. If we think globally - that is through the ESA. If you cannot see need to protect species locally, I wonder why? What is the hypocrisy in taking care of the planet at the local level?
7
@PI Man Those same people would be angry if the local McDonald's closed and they couldn't get there morning egg mcmuffin.
4
The public needs editorials like this every single day, despite the president’s strategy of distraction from Republicans’ heinous policies.
When Trump tweets about members of Congress (or the media) being “disgusting”, “not too bright”, etc, one of the the most devastating effects is that global catastrophes like this (which Republicans are directly causing with their neglect) are completely drowned out and overlooked in the public sphere.
109
@JohnB
You are correct Sir! The daily destruction continues under the radar while the "news media" debate the tweet du jour.
8
@JohnB
I think that is the plan. While Miller and the acting Department heads plan the monetization of our publicly owned natural resources, they send trump out to do his crazy man talk, or drop rumors of it, to distract the media from their destructive agenda.
The media falls for it everytime. The media seems to have no ability to focus on anything for longer than a minute, just like most of the smart phone entrapped population.
9
Understanding the interconnectedness of species is very important now. I would say now especially but we can see how it always really was but... oh well.
Now hopefully a majority of governments, humans, almost humans, are understanding the extreme importance of "getting this."
But our dear president and his people don't "get it." Whatever their reasons might be it just shows they don't get it.
Who knows how many essays have been written about why and how and when POTUS might wake up - and a lot of other politicians & backward thinking citizens in the United States as well.
A college professor I know told me a few years ago that she believes the United States will eventually split along political lines. Would this be the best solution?
At least then the blue United States would be able to directly address the problem of climate change and other problems without the continual fight with the red states.
12
Money is all they understand. Boycott beef and other meats. Support non profits pursuing legal actions.
42
@poslug " I'm afraid it will take a lot more than boycotting meat to make any difference. Many states have Conservation departments that need help. As for non-profits there is the Sierra club & The Nature Conservancy to support. They have the means to take the EPA to court, which is the only place we stand any chance at all of dulling this attack on the few wild places and animals left.
But I'm afraid the real culprit here is overpopulation. The more people the more consumption, the more pollution, the more invasion of the last wild places left.
17
@poslug
How do you suggest we boycott gas?
@poslug
And only money for special elites like oil company executive and lobbyists.
This is all important, but it strikes me that you are fighting the wrong battle. Our approach to the environment can no longer focus on conservation or the status quo of a bygone era. Diluting the Endangered Species Act makes no sense because its greatest beneficiaries are arguably the oil companies and the secret hidden in plain sight is that we are running out of oil planet-wide. No amount of new drilling or exploration will get us out of this. The US Department of Energy estimates that there are at best 1.6 trillion barrels of oil left in the ground. Our strategy should not be more drilling for a diminishing resource but full on support of the burgeoning renewable energy industry. There is more than enough renewable energy available to replace fossil fuels, especially oil. But it will cause a significant dislocation of Oil, Inc.’s infrastructure investments. There are likely trillions of dollars worth of sunk costs to write off. Continuing to support the petroleum and coal paradigms benefits only a tiny portion of the populace but they have significant power due to their wealth and thus the President’s ear. If we expect better results, we need to cover the end of the fossil fuel paradigm with gusto as well as the out of control population boom driving incessant demand.
34
For all of his vacillations and changes of mind on a wide variety of topics, Donald Trump has been consistent in his determination to keep his large political donors happy, particularly those involved in the fossil fuel industry.
To Mr. Trump, the immediate political and financial benefit to him personally always outweighs the long-term damage done to the general public and, needless to say, the irreparable harm done to the planet.
The Endangered Species Act has been embraced by Americans on a bipartisan basis since it was passed decades ago, but under President Trump the law is nothing more than an annoying impediment to satisfying his donor base.
As he always has been able to do, Mr. Trump has found and appointed a person who is more than willing to destroy a carefully thought out piece of regulatory legislation.
David Bernhardt built his reputation as a loyal enemy of the environment on behalf of the oil and gas industry. Mr. Bernhardt’s appointment would never have been approved if the Republican-controlled Senate had not blindly bowed to the Trump demand that the interests and wishes of the American people be ignored. Cowardice is the operative word in Mitch McConnell’s chamber.
81
@sdw - "keep his large political donors happy,"
Remember when Trump said he was so rich he wouldn't need donors and therefore wouldn't be beholding to anyone?
Whether he is doing it to please donors or is simply evil on his own, with a possibility that locked away in his gold encrusted towers where the lessons of Midas dare not tread that he has no feeling toward the natural world other than as a hindrance to his plans, the end result is the same.
39
@Marie
Yes, just like Mexico would pay for the wall, trump financed his own campaign. Not.
10
@Marie
You assessment of our president is accurate. What we are looking for, and will never find in Donald Trump, is a soul.
9
This rollback is an absolute and grievous sin against nature and humanity. It should be enough to motivate every person to vote against Republicans. Instead, it is sidelined and places about seventh on the overall importance chart. Candidates who make it their primary focus such as Jay Inslee of Washington state are marginalized and don't have the "pizazz" to gain national attention.
76
Any economic assessment should consider all of the ecosystem services a species provides, now and in the future. If these can’t be determined then a precautionary approach should prevail. If Congress could agree on some similar wording to clarify the legislation then Trump’s regulation would be reined in.
Here’s hoping the Courts can clarify the loopholes to keep ESA intact.
13
@gf
Absolutely, like the role birds and bats play in pollination. Or the role beavers play in flood mitigation. Not to mention the role trees. algae and other plants play in absorbing carbon or the role wetlands play in bird migration which is important for plant pollination.
Do you think the numbskull "scientists" who will work for a Trump administration can even quantify all the factors an economic evaluation will require. I don't and I don't believe the employment numbers. Trump is a cheater and has been one for years. How can anything be trusted out of his administration?
3
One thing is certain. We are one of those species. We are tied to the earth and part and parcel of the earth s creatures. We need clean air, clean water, an ability to grow and raise food, an ability to raise children. If we eliminate crucial pollinators, or reduce critical migration areas to dust, or ruin water tables, we are affecting ourselves as well as other life. If we shut down the ability of trees to reproduce or to grow as well as necessary for them to reach maturity and produce seeds, we will eliminate their shelter and cooling ability on the earth. We are already developing mass migration of humans seeking to survive and live better lives. We are disrupting the whole planet and all the life on it, that means us. We are one of those threatened species and we may be even more vulnerable because we have evolved such protected lives that we can't live any other way.
56
In the current ant-science environment, those promoting these roll-backs to a cautious, valid law need to stop and think.
Each species affects another.
There is always a chain of predation, scavenging, forage and fertilization, with one thing depending upon the other.
When you pull out one link, the chain no longer functions.
And the chain runs all the way up to your front door.
One of these extinctions has and probably will someday present an unknown or underappreciated relationship of dependency that will precipitate, for example, a bacterial bloom due to the disappearance of a critical host species.
And that might cause an aberrant evolutionary development that produces a global pandemic.
Those things have happened and will happen again.
Somebody thinks they know it all, and they don't.
24
Moderate Republican's are on the endangered species list. Deficit hawks in particular have all but disappeared from the Capitol Hill prairie. One can only hope that building a wall in the desert along the entire Southern border will revive them.
1
@Peter Close There have been no "moderate Republicans since Reagan, who despised the environment and who believed trees caused pollution.
If you voted GOP since 1980, you are complicit in the madness.
4
It is a remarkable fact that science can be completely ignored in 2019. The rate and severity of climate change and the loss of species diversity can be discussed, but not without a scientific framework. Science has brought us the wonders of modern medicine, weather prediction, communications, and advances in manufacturing, transportation and agriculture. What profound denial would enable someone to just ignore science now?
One only needs to travel to regions of the world decimated by industrial overgrowth with no concern for environmental impacts in Russia, China, or India (not to mention the US at times) to see what can happen when one ignores scientific facts behind the dangers of damaging fragile ecosystems for unbridled exploitation of land and natural resources. Let's be smart. Let's plan. Let's debate facts. Let's worry a little about the next few generations before we kill off thousands of endangered species and imperil our own future.
116
Business interests run the show and they have for quite a while. Consequently, the framing of issues related to business activity is completely wrong. Businesses should only be allowed to make a product or provide a service if it serves the interests of the people, present and future.
For instance, energy companies should have to buy insurance against the trillions of dollars in cost shifting resulting from dirty energy - climate change, species extinction and human deaths and illness due to pollution. The cost of those insurance premiums would be added to the cost of dirty energy, resulting in a big drop in demand for that energy related to cleaner sources. Negative externalities should no longer be a burden shifted to vulnerable people and future generations.
23
@Jon
Good point. Another process called life cycle cost analysis determines the economic costs of fabrication starting with extracting raw materials, processing them and mitigating the environmentall and social damages of the entire process. The LEED prgram requires it for some building materials.
Then the true cost can be charged for the product. No more privatising profits and socializing the costs.
5
@Jon
Businesses are not simply villains since they are the employers. But their influence is outsized. I long for balance in this country instead of the unbalanced mind of Trump.
3
Today, in Geneva a convention on international trade on endangered species (CITES) has begun .One may think that this convention does not apply to the situation in the U.S. But, if you think deeper the Republican administration is trading the well-being of species in the U.S. for some economic advantages, which could be obtained by other means that do not endanger these species or the environment. It seems that the entire world is trading on endangered species, except the aborigines who have lived in harmony with their forests and environment. How many species for a piece of plastic, or oil, or gold, etc?
28
The problem with any human "promotion" or "allowance" for the mass extinction of any of the species that we share the Earth with is that we do not know the entire purpose for each and every species, how those species interact with each other in the environment, and the role they may play in the continued existence of our own species. Who is to know whether or not we wipe out some small insect, invertebrate or another animal that turns out to be a major predator of some other species that is a vector for some fatal human disease. By allowing the destruction of another species we may very well be condemning our own. What good will all of the oil and gas mined be then when we wipe ourselves out?
Here's to the Law of Unintended Consequences.
65
This pernicious closed loop seems like it is being driven by James G. Watt, Ronald Reagan's blessedly short tenured Interior Secretary whose operational philosophy was to wring every cent of value from our land from sea to shining sea. Every cent intended for bank accounts of developers who are expected to fill the campaign coffers of favored legislators who can be counted on to keep quiet. This is another reason to end "Citizen's United".
142
@Harry
we live in ecosystems, heavy emphasis of systems
we have to consider all the factors and elements of a living system instead of the whining of the oil and gas industry which wants cheap land from the government and takes no responsibility for the damage done to the land, animals or humans
The worst energy companies are coal mining companies which rape the land, leave heavy toxic chemicals behind then file bankruptcy to avoid clean up costs after paying themselves handsome salaries and bonuses
too bad we can't just jail the owners who leave poison behind for murder or attempted murder
7
So much well considered and valuable information in these comments. As someone who spent a few years dealing with legislation and regulation in forestry, my feeling is that things are moving too quickly now to wait for fixing the vagaries of every administrations tenure. We need to change the situation, not the legislation. The situation is that the lions share of pressure on all our living heritage is the demand for oil, etc. Period. Everything good can only come from removing the demand for this energy and closing things down. Time is wasting.
45
Wildlife Agencies and organizations have been working hard to identify species that are heading towards threatened or endangered status for more than 15 years. All due to this oncoming storm of hate for the ESA on the right. They have tried very hard to address the concerns and in fact keep species off the endangered species list. Still this is the response they get from the political establishment. No effort or true compromise appears to be enough. The administration could care less and in fact have every intention of extracting all resources at the expense of the planet (buying Greenland?). What ecosystems and habitats provide to planet and humanity is far beyond any economic gain. Best of luck if you choose to vote for this nightmare.
39
Immaculate difference of opinion is this new government's choice with every tradition of progress in our history. It is confounding to observe such vituperation for humaneness in all things, but convenient that it convenes in one, single, contemptibly degenerate political Party, that of Lincoln.
16
How many threatened species are listed and protected because of science and how many as a consequence of sue and settle by lawyers who sue and when they win are compensated by the government?
It's a great industry.
@ebmem
Why don't you tell us how many, then? And give real, reputable, nonpartisan sources to back up that claim. Until you do, I believe the number is none. You are confusing perfectly legitimate actions taken to protect *already listed* species with the listing of species as endangered.
Interestingly, if you feed ebmem's disingenuous question into Google (I like to investigate even the most outlandish claims before dismissing them), you do get results. The very first hit ("The Obscure Legal System That Lets Corporations Sue Countries," in the Guardian) is about *corporations* suing countries whose laws—laws designed to protect safe air and drinking water, farmers' livelihood, or threatened species, for example—threaten their profits. The motivation for weakening environmental protections is corporate profits, full stop.
46
@ebmem
That's not at all the way the system works, which you would know if you were able to accept reality.
4
Evidence?
4
Not to long ago our Federal Government was there to bolster the environment with common sense laws and regulations to assure out future citizens a proper place to live and raise their families. It started with Teddy Roosevelt with our National Parks and the government has improved upon his brilliant ideas with programs like the Endangered Species Act. But not now.
Now we're relying on States like California, and Massachusetts to take up the banner and do what they can to stop the degradation of our flora and fauna. There has been nothing good come from this Administration, but taking steps like this to have big business given priority over endangered wildlife borders on criminality.
110
I am a believer in neither the so-called animals' rights, nor in the very vaguely defined concept of ecological equilibrium. But I am fully for preservation of the animal and plant world, as it has evolved to the present. A species, whose survival is most endangered, is Homo sapiens Linnaeus 1758.
6
@Tuvw Xyz Yes, indeed, most of the moves made by the current administration are to the detriment of Homo Sapiens, but we are taking the rest of the planet with us. And Homo Sapiens seems the wrong name too: the President thrives of being a proud know-nothing.
7
I wish everybody would just calm down. Weakening the nation’s most important conservation law, the Endangered Species Act is just the first step. Salting of the earth so nothing will grow will come next. Why is it that people smell sulfur when members of the Trump administration walk by?
32
In the late 19th and early 20th century a handful of men and women acted to protect birds, the last of the nation's free-roaming bison, and a whole host of other at-risk wildlife from development as well as commercial exploitation.
They did not put a price tag on these birds and animals. Rather they saw them, as many saw our national parks, national forests, and other public lands at the time, as symbols of America's greatness, equal to if not greater than the great cathedrals and palaces of Europe, and equally worthy of protection.
Trump and his administration look out from the White House and only see what stands in their way to exploiting the last of what is left of this greatness.
They have one goal and one goal only: To squeeze all of the profits from what's left of our nation's heritage for themselves and their friends, before they pack up and leave town.
182
@avrds
At my house in mid state New York, we are privileged to have bald eagles, mergansers, ospreys, butterflies and hummingbirds among the many species of life that we share this world with.
Without the efforts of Pete Seeger and a bunch of 1970's environmentalists ( yeah, those hippies) this area would not be the home of a healthy Hudson River and the wildlife that depend on a pesticide free environment spared from clear cutting. And its not just that some species survived near extinction. It's that the area is a better place to live and work. We need the natural environment more than it needs us.
The environmental laws work. trump's attempted destruction of them is a crime.
26
@Zeke27
I saw a film or tv show once about Seeger's work advocating on behalf of the Hudson River. We need more Pete Seegers in the world fighting to protect the planet and the people on it while we still have some fight left in us, and less Donald Trumps fighting to get whatever he can, while he can, for himself and his friends.
As a total aside, a neighbor recently cut down two aging poplar trees in her backyard. It turns out those two trees were providing ecological services to her and her other neighbor. As soon as the trees were gone, both houses started to flood in the spring with the trees no longer in place to absorb all the excess water. We simply do not know in some instances what the impact of disrupting the natural world will be until it's too late (she's now having to rebuild her entire foundation). What we do understand -- or should -- is that we (animals, plants, birds, insects) are all in this together.
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There is, of course, a large sector of humanity that strives for recognition and acclaim by helping people and devising ways to improve human interactions with the planet to benefit the natural and beneficence, the fundamental dynamics that support life. This is neither easy nor simple but success in these efforts have huge rewards for all life. Then there is that odd smaller group who seek notice and personal benefit out of total disregard for the sustenance of everybody else and even flaunt disdain in direct personal decencies in order to display whatever powers they may have. If nothing else it gains for them a quality of notoriety which delights them. It is up to the very large majority to react quickly and decisively to quell such terribly damaging behavior. The responsibly lies with the majority of citizens as to what will be the outcome.
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@Jan Sand
Incidentally it should be noted that humanity has entered the category of an endangered species.
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@Jan Sand
Al Gore operates for personal acclaim and adulation from Hollywood along with cash money. He has no regard for the little people you have to pay for his wealth as well as his carbon footprint that is 40 times that of the average American household.
47 species brought back from near extinction is a HUGE success. That 1650 species have been and that the list is growing faster than species saved is an indiction of our ongoing, collective destruction of the very planet we depend upon for survival. Massive climate change events have resulted in an estimated 70 to 80 PERCENT of species going extinct; where are all the dinosaurs today? Will people be in this majority?
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@Michael A
Phylogentically speaking, the dinosaurs are now birds but I know that's not what you meant. I use trilobites as an example because there are ZERO left (not even any descendants). Complete extinction - probably soon to be joined by lots of other large, diverse, groups like... oh, I don't know, birds maybe? Sigh.
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@SB
One day we will wake up and the birds will have stopped singing because they will have gone and the majority of us will hardly notice or care.
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@Michael A
Pollinating bees are endangered. No pollination, no fruits.
We are so shortsighted.
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As a country with more than five thousands of miles of border with the USA, a border wild species we share do not recognize, Canada will undoubtedly suffer from any American relaxation of protection rules for endangered species. It's simple: if you drain from one side of the pool, the level of the whole pool goes down. I hope our government will at least protest against such rollbacks. Retaliatory measures would be nice, but let's not kid ourselves.
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@Denis Pelletier. Much of such protections are under provincial jurisdiction. Ontario was ahead of Trump. The Conservative government gutted Ontario’s protections this spring. See what the CAC plans for Quebec
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