Posted on 04/26/2011 7:59:04 PM PDT by jazusamo
Science cant change the fact that environmental protection requires judgment calls
Buried in the continuing resolution funding the federal government for the remainder of 2011 is a rider that delists the gray wolf as an endangered species in Montana and Idaho. The rider had bipartisan sponsorship from Sen. Jon Tester, Montana Democrat, and Rep. Michael K. Simpson, Idaho Republican, but the public reaction is anything but bipartisan.
Among environmentalists - and particularly among endangered species advocates - there is outrage that Congress had the temerity to poke this small hole in the Endangered Species Act. How dare Congress inject politics into what is meant to be a purely scientific determination? And even worse, Congress overrode the order of a federal judge and then had the gall to insulate its action from further judicial review. According to an editorial in the New York Times on Friday, all of this constitutes inappropriate meddling by Congress.
Now thats an interesting objection. By effectively amending how the law applies in particular circumstances and overriding the decision of a federal judge, Congress is meddling with the Endangered Species Act? Doesnt Congress make the laws, the executive implement and enforce the laws and the judiciary interpret the laws? By what theory does this constitutional separation of powers preclude Congress from changing its mind or from overriding the interpretations of bureaucrats and judges?
The fear among environmentalists is that other members of Congress will now seek special exemptions for their neighborhood endangered species. Careful inspection of future appropriations bills might reveal delistings of the Barton Springs salamander in Texas, the red-cockaded woodpecker in the Southeast and even the northern spotted owl in the Northwest. In the case of the spotted owl, such congressional overstepping would derail more than two decades of ongoing planning, scientific studies and judicialrulings.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Ping.
The Spotted Owl should never have been listed. The original report excluded all Spotted Owls known to be nesting in second-growth timber. They are not now, nor have they ever been, a threatened species.
“Mr. Tester and Mr. Simpson made the political process work for their constituents.”
And about time.
Exactly right. Spotted owls were nesting in second growth timber in inhabited areas in So OR when they were listed.
The Endangered Species Act should be repealed in its entirety. If species are too dumb to adapt to changing conditions, then that’s just tough.
Oregon ping....they guy who SHOULD have been OUR Senator...Jim Huffman writes about wolves and environment.
Ranchers will still have a springtime surge in wolf attacks as the calving season ends and they release their herds onto remote pastures
I have friends whose property contained century old fir trees on a half-dozen acres. Spotted Owls were nesting there and it scared them near to death because they feared, and rightly, what the Feds would do if the owls were discovered.
YEP....The Dept of Forestry (I think) or some gov’t entity...recently said it was the BARRED Owl that was EATING the Spotted Owl....
YEP....The Dept of Forestry (I think) or some gov’t entity...recently said it was the BARRED Owl that was EATING the Spotted Owl....
Thanks for the ping!
Um...what I heard was that they were cross-breeding and producing Sparred Owls.
Or maybe that was a joke.
Say WA? Evergreen State ping
Quick link: WA State Board
FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this ping list.
Ping sionnsar if you see a Washington state related thread.
Thanks for the ping.
BTTT
Q: Why did the NORTHERN Spotted Owl shut down the timber industry?
A: Because the SOUTHERN Spotted Owl (the exact same critter living below an arbitrarily drawn line) was doing just fine, thank you very much.
Grrrrrrr
Thanks for the ping!
And, yes, this hybrid is known as the "sparred owl."
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