The Endangered Species Act does not save endangered species very often. Instead, the law tends to have the opposite effect: anyone who spots an endangered or threatened species on his/her property has the perverse incentive to eliminate the predator who is destroying the value and use of his/her property. Reforms are in the works, but it will take a miracle to get the bill through Congress and signed by the President.
Radical environmentalists, including many who see humans as a plague upon the Earth, have succeeded in nearly totally destroying the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest, and they used the spotted owl as their primary weapon. Now the government is killing barred owls -- the spotted owl's larger cousin, the barred owl, which had been migrating westward into spotted owl territory. This is something akin to the NLRB outlawing football players over 250 pounds so that smaller, weaker would-be players have a better chance at making a team.
While many see wind power as a renewable source of earth- friendly energy, increasing numbers of conservationists are taking a dimmer view of them because of their impact on wildlife – particularly bats.
Existing wind turbine technology may provide intermittent electric power that, with huge subsidies, can be "competitive" in price with coal and oil - but the turbines chop up bald and golden eagles and other endangered bird species like Cuisinarts. Solar arrays can confuse migratory water birds, including the brown pelican, into thinking they are flying into a water body but instead have their feathers fried or their heads damaged. Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has just authorized a 30-year take permit to protect wind farms from liability under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. In a world where the President "pardons" the Thanksgiving turkey (though we doubt he eats tofurkey!), this is borderline schizophrenia.
The pygmy rabbit, whose size is not much bigger than a man’s hand, was thought to be nearing extinction in Washington’s Columbia basin in 2003. Since that time, wildlife officials have undertaken to save the furry critter and today some 20 of them are, so to speak, back in their native holes.
As Western states continue to develop their oil and gas resources, environmentalists are increasingly concerned about how such activity will impact prairie chickens. Fortunately, local farmers, industry officials, and environmentalists have been working together and are now pitching a free-market solution . . .
Major losses in beehives year after year make it hard for beekeepers to turn a profit, and many have left the industry. “We can replace the bees, but we can’t replace beekeepers with 40 years of experience,” says Tim Tucker, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation. But all these are different issues from whether bees are dying off in unprecedented numbers, and what is causing the losses.
With so many federal reports containing no data – only conclusions put forth by another scientist – there is no way to debate, debunk, or disprove the underlying facts. It’s almost impossible even to get court orders to track down and disclose the data, if Freedom of Information Act requests are denied, which they frequently are (legally or otherwise). If there is no way to test a statement, hypothesis or theory, it is not science. It’s opinion or politics. If you hide the raw data, no one can test it, and it’s easy for agenda-driven “researchers” and regulators to implement laws that are based on junk science or even fraud.
The Great White Shark is a renowned ocean predator thanks to the movie “Jaws.” But in recent decades, a West-Coast cousin of this fearsome animal has declined in number to the point that conservation officials have been considering placing it on the Endangered Species List. Now comes a new study by NOAA allaying these fears.
You’ve probably heard about reintroducing wolves and bears into the wild, but how about insects? Well believe it or not, Scotland’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is advocating a reintroduction of insects, and it’s creating, dare we say, quite a buzz.
In Africa, efforts to stop poachers from illegally killing endangered elephants, lions and cheetahs have often met with little success. But it appears at least in the nation of Namibia, a new market-based conservation approach may be turning things around.
In 1993 there were 1,400 polar bears in Canada's western Hudson Bay. Far from being depleted by alleged global warming, that number has hit nearly 2,200.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. But has it been effective? Laura Huggins, of the Property and Environment Research Center, says no and has this to say. . . .
Do you prefer spots or stripes on owls? The federal government favors spots and is shooting striped owls!
Everyone knows that oil and water don’t mix. But did you know the same can be said about barbed wire and sage grouse?