Talking Points on the Environment #14

Checklist for Endangered Species Act Reform

Congress will soon take up the issue of Endangered Species Act reform. Before Congress can devise a species protection plan that will work for all species -- both humans and wildlife -- it must first:

• Realize that the American people want genuine species protection and that an incentive-based plan must be devised. While most Americans would object to the excesses of the current Endangered Species Act -- excessive protections afforded the Flat-Spired Snail, for example -- most favor some form of protection for the most valued species. The best way to protect these species while protecting individual liberty is through a voluntary, incentive-based system.

• Recognize that the current Endangered Species Act has failed. Some 900 plants and animals are currently listed as either "endangered" or "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and nearly 4,000 other species are either candidates for future listing or are in the process of being listed. Since the ESA's inception 21 years ago, only 27 species have managed to get off the "endangered" list. Of these, seven were delisted due to extinction. The remaining delistings were due to "data error" (meaning the species was wrongly listed in the first place), court orders, or species improvement unrelated to the ESA. The ESA has failed at its central mission -- protecting and recovering endangered and threatened species.

• Understand why the Endangered Species Act has failed. The ESA has failed because it creates perverse incentives that actually encourage the destruction of species habitat. Under the ESA, private landowners can be barred from engaging in activities such as farming if their property is identified as potential habitat for an endangered species. Since the government offers no compensation for either the revenue or property value losses that result, landowners have an incentive to make sure their land will not attract species. They also have an incentive to harvest whatever natural resources their land possesses quickly while they still have access to them, damaging habitat in the process.

• Accept that a goal of reform is to eliminate injustice, not simply to limit that injustice to a relative few. The ESA is fundamentally flawed and should be replaced. Piecemeal reforms -- those that simply tinker with existing law -- will do little to protect endangered species and little to help those who have been forced to foot the bill for what is essentially a public good. A species protection plan that protects both species and individuals' constitutionally-guaranteed private property rights is possible. But protection of property rights must be absolute: Reforms that solve some of the ESA's problems while continuing to place an unjust burden on small numbers of politically-powerless Americans is unethical and doomed to failure.

Recommendations developed based on information from David Ridenour of The National Center for Public Policy Research; Myron Ebell, formerly of the American Land Rights Association; John Shanahan of The Heritage Foundation; "Perverse Incentives and Endangered Species," by Brian Seasholes of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, The Washington Times, April 6, 1995; and NWI Resource , Fall 1994.

Issue Date: April 12, 1995

Talking Points on the Economy: Environment #14, published by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Ct NE, Washington, D.C. 20002 Tel. (202) 543-4110, Fax (202)543-5975, [email protected], http://www.nationalcenter/inter.net. For more information about Talking Points on the Economy: Environment #14 contact Bob Adams at 202/543-4110 or [email protected]

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