Proposed changes to the U.S. Endangered Species Act would, according to Damien Schiff, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation representing landowners and developers battling endangered species restrictions, provide a bit of extra electricity at the relatively small price of, oh, a few species going extinct. He explains things this a’way:

Under the version made public, plans for dams to provide electricity and irrigation for farming could proceed with less hindrance even if endangered or threatened species were present. He said that in an extreme case, it was possible a species could become extinct, but only if it was determined that a greater public value such as providing water or power was being served.

Anyone else have a serious problem with this? I’ve read these words a few times and I still can’t get it through my head that anyone can think like this in 2007.

This L.A. times article (thanks, Larry!) is a concise summation of this potentially disastrous legislation, including a listing of who is fighting for what is good and right, and who is fighting on the dark side.
Here’s a link to the Pacific Legal Foundation’s website: SmugEvildoers.com. Contact them, along with your representatives and let them know what you think of their proposed tinkering to the Endangered Species Act. I highly recommend calling multiple times daily, every day. From the Evildoers website, under ‘Endangered Species Act’:

In the process of designating critical habitat for species listed under the Endangered Species Act, regulators are required to consider the potential economic impact of their actions. All too often this critically important analysis is given little or no real consideration. Under the auspices of the Endangered Species Act Reform Project, PLF attorneys are challenging critical habitat designations and bringing into question whether the government truly has considered the real economic impact of its actions.

How many bad guys are out there? The PLF? Just another acronym to write down on my too-long list of Evil Organizations that Seek to Destroy the World.

[tags]endangered-species-act, damien-schiff, pacific-legal-foundation, climate-change, evil-bastards[/tags]

Tags: animal welfare, environment, news, Politics

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