Question of the Week: This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. Has the Endangered Species been successful? How could the act be reformed or replaced to better serve people and endangered animals?
Drew Johnson
Editor of the Free Press opinion page
Forty years ago, in 1973, President Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law. The unintended consequences resulting from the federal government’s heavy-handed intrusion into species conservation has cost Americans billions of dollars, assailed property rights, killed jobs and failed to protect the animals and plants it was ostensibly created to benefit.
In some cases, the ESA has assisted in increasing the population of certain species. Overall, however, only 1 percent of species (28 out of 2,000) under the protection of the ESA have recovered sufficiently for removal from the endangered species list. Twelve protected species have even become extinct under the ESA.