Federal public health officials created strange bedfellows among animal-welfare advocates, scientists and vaccine skeptics for allegedly cutting corners in viral and COVID-19 vaccine research and oversight, possibly engineering a pathogen, then a cure that’s worse for some.
The Food and Drug Administration may be creating another odd couple in a case at the Supreme Court: environmental and pro-life activists.
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December 23, 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by President Richard M. Nixon. The statute has put enormous power into the hands of bureaucrats at the two federal agencies that administer it – the Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Commerce Department’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). It has also been adroitly used by environmental groups who have sued the federal government under the ESA to stop projects not of their liking through the broadest possible designation of a “critical habitat” for a plant or animal said to be either threatened or endangered.
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A California appeals court ruled Tuesday that bees can be classified as fish under the state’s Endangered Species Act (CESA) in a blow to agriculture groups.
The Sacramento-based three-judge panel ruled that four species of bumble bees found across California are technically fish since they are invertebrates, according to the decision in a case concerning the species’ protected status that pitted the state government against agriculture groups. The court added that the term fish shouldn’t be confined to “aquatic” invertebrates under the CESA.
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California is suing the Trump administration for the administration’s failure to protect endangered species in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, Reuters reports.
The lawsuit by the state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the California Natural Resources Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency filed suit on Thursday against the Trump administration in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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The Trump administration on Monday announced reforms to the Endangered Species Act that it says will “increase transparency and effectiveness” in the law’s implementation.
One of the reforms removes a blanket rule which treats protections for threatened species the same as endangered species. It will also require the same standards be used when officials consider delisting or reclassifying species.
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A case on appeal at the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals pits the rights of a taxpaying property owner against a spider.
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by Tim Pearce Nine states are intervening in a lawsuit against the Trump administration for approving oil and gas companies to search for oil and gas deposits in the Atlantic Ocean. Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh announced Thursday the states would join environmental groups in a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from allowing seismic testing off the coast of South Carolina. “The National Marine Fisheries Service has issued what are called incidental harassment authorizations. They would, by their own terms, result in harm to hundreds of thousands of whales and dolphins and porpoises,” Frosh said. “The permits eliminate a major obstacle to testing and we content that the authorizations are illegal.” Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Virginia accompanied Maryland in intervening in the lawsuit. The NMFS, an agency under the Commerce Department, issued “incidental take” permits Nov. 30 allowing oil and gas companies to conduct the tests. Environmental groups sued the federal government Nov. 11 to prevent the seismic testing, which involves air guns booming in the ocean seconds apart for days at a time. Environmentalists contend the permits violate the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Marine Mammals Protection Act and other regulations. The federal…
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by Tim Pearce Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is using resources in his department to ensure that California firefighters are armed with enough water to fight wildfires scorching the state. Ross ordered the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal agencies to prioritize water use for fighting fires over previously arranged agreements. Ross also ensured that, consistent with the Endangered Species Act (ESA), marine habitats housing vulnerable plants and animals would not be unduly drained. “The California wildfires are a direct threat to life and property and all measures available must be taken to protect both,” Ross said in a statement. “Public safety is the first priority. Consistent with the emergency consultation provisions under the ESA, Federal agencies may use any water as necessary to protect life and property in the affected areas.” The Mendocino Complex Fire burning in Northern California has devoured more than 300,000 acres and is significantly larger than any other fire ever recorded to burn in California, USA Today reported. President Donald Trump blamed bad environmental laws for diverting water from fighting fires to other, less pressing needs on Aug. 5. California disputed the claim, saying the state and its emergency personnel have “no shortage of water supplies” to fight fires without depleting…
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by Printus LeBlanc The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is the most weaponized law in America. Radical environmentalists use the law as a blunt object to push the zero-growth agenda on the rest of the country, even invading private property. The law prioritizes bait fish over children, kills thousands of jobs, puts people into poverty, and violates the constitution. It is time for Congress to modernize the law and recognize some things are more important than a two-inch fish. As with most laws passed by Congress, the ESA had good intentions when it was signed into law in 1973. However, that quickly changed when radical environmentalists realized Congress handed them a weapon. One of the first cases after the law’s passage set a precedent for how the ESA could be used as a blunt force object by the federal government and environmental groups. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was building the Tellico Dam in the mid-70s. It was the last of 68 dams constructed in the Tennessee River Valley. A second-year law student at the University of Tennessee, Hiram Hill, submitted a petition to the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to list the snail darter, a small fish the size of…
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