Unforeseen Implications of the Endangered Species Act
The ESA, a common act that has been thrown around along with the EPA and all the other environmental agencies; but do you know what it really is? What it is really doing to U.S. citizens? The original intent of the ESA was good non-the-less, but over the years since it has been passed, it has turned into a political issue rather than an environmental one over taxpayers’ money. Congress representative, Bill Sali notably says in a court hearing,
“I can assure everyone within the sound of my voice that no one who originally voted for this legislation ever envisioned that this Act would be used to smash the dreams of millions of Americans… There is no question that politics and not the Department of the Interior are running the Endangered Species Act, and it has been hijacked by misguided Federal judges and radical environmental organizations whose sole interest is not to recover species, but to gorge themselves on taxpayers’ money” (Implementation 3-4).
The regulations that the ESA impose need to be reconsidered due to unforeseen implications and the fact that Americans’ rights are being taken away from them. The ESA impacts almost every part of Americans’ lives. From impacting the government itself to the deaths of many innocent lives, the ESA is getting out of hand from its original intent. A resolution of the issues of the ESA needs to be taken to ensure the protection and rights of American citizens.
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is an act made by Congress, on December 28 1973, to protect endangered species and threatened species against extinction. Section 2, subsection b of the Endangered Species Act states that,
“The purposes of this Act are to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved, to provide a program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened species, and to take such steps as may be appropriate to achieve the purposes of the treaties and conventions set forth in subsection (a) of this section.” (4)
Subsection (a) says that there are some species of plants and animals that are extinct and are endangered to becoming extinct. It also states several treaties that the United States has with other countries about migratory animals (3). The policy of this act is to enforce the conservation of endangered and threatened wildlife through all state and federal agencies (4).
The Endangered Species Act affects the government in ways which were not seen in the original intent of the act. One example of this would be in road construction. Since the ESA has been in effect the construction of roads has become more expensive for the government. Road construction involves the widening or extension of roads, the maintenance of current roads, and the making of new roads. The widening/extension of roads decrease the amount of land around it which could be inhabited by endangered species. Therefore, because of the ESA, the government is required to hire researchers to survey the area and validate that there are not any endangered or threatened species in the area intended; and if there are endangered species in the area intended construction area then action is to be taken to either relocate the endangered species or to construct around the endangered area. The maintenance of current roads has a similar affect. Although it is not expanding, the maintenance of roads uses gravel and other materials that are taken from a designated area. If an endangered animal or endangered plant is seen in that area then a fee is applied that requires the relocation of the animal or plant, or the materials are to be taken from somewhere else. The construction of new roads is affected by the same issues as the widening/extension of current roads. Since the ESA was signed the government has had to spend more money than necessary on the construction of public roads. Fees are also attached to the