AR-News: (U.S.) Endangered Species Act failing

[Mary Finelli]

A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW
Report Finds Endangered Species Act Failing
Daily Grist, April 23, 2004


Over the first two decades the U.S. Endangered Species Act was in effect, 
from 1973 to 1994, 114 species went extinct or missing, "sacrificed to 
bureaucratic inertia, political meddling, and lack of leadership," said 
Kieran Suckling of the Center for Biological Diversity, which released a 
report on the ESA yesterday.  Suckling said the species could have been 
saved if the act had been "properly managed, fully funded, and shielded from 
political pressure."  The report documents a history of problems under 
numerous administrations, but the center reserved its harshest criticism for 
the current Bush administration, saying it has added an average of only nine 
species a year to the federal list of threatened and endangered species, 
considerably fewer than any previous administration.  The U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, which implements the ESA, decried the idea that it had 
knowingly allowed any species to go extinct and claimed that the real source 
of troubles was constant lawsuits from enviro groups over critical habitat, 
which drain money away from the listing budget.

straight to the source:  MSNBC.com, 23 Apr 2004
http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2355

see also, in Grist:  Craig's list -- an interview with Bush's point person 
on species and parks -- by Amanda Griscom
http://www.gristmagazine.com/maindish/manson041504.asp

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