On August 12, the Commerce Department’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced rules changes to the implementation of regulations pertaining to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973.
The Endangered Species Act was last reauthorized in 1988. Why the prolonged delay in updating it? It’s long overdue to modernize the law and bring it into the 21st century.
Of the 1,661 species that have been awarded endangered or threatened protections since 1973, however, only 54 species — or three percent of listed species — have fully recovered or been delisted.
Efforts to modernize the Endangered Species Act last Congress, namely the bipartisan ESA Modernization Legislative Package, sadly didn’t gain much traction. Under the Democrat-led People’s House today, many representatives are keen to leave the status quo in place.
Why won’t Congress fulfill its constitutional duty to ensure this conservation tool works properly?