Trump overhauling enforcement of Endangered Species Act

[left-of-center2012]

Source: AP

The Trump administration is finalizing major changes Monday to the way it enforces the landmark Endangered Species Act, in a move that it says will reduce regulatory burdens but critics charge will drive more creatures to extinction. The Trump administration says the changes will make regulation more efficient and less burdensome while preserving protections for wildlife.

A draft version of the rule would end blanket protections for animals newly deemed threatened, allow federal authorities for the first time to consider the economic cost of protecting a particular species, and could let authorities disregard impacts from climate change, one of the largest threats to habitat.

At least 10 attorneys general joined conservation groups in protesting an early draft of the changes, saying they put more wildlife at greater risk of extinction.

The Endangered Species Act currently protects more than 1,600 species in the United States and its territories. A United Nations report warned in May that more than 1 million plants and animals globally face extinction, some within decades, owning to human development, climate change and other threats. The report called the rate of species loss a record.

Read more: https://www.apnews.com/9bf4541d89e6444783814e53302ce479

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Article Two of the United States Constitution, the Faithful Execution Clause

Article Two of the United States Constitution
....

Section 3: Presidential responsibilities
....

Clause 5: Caring for the faithful execution of the law

The president must "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." This clause in the Constitution imposes a duty on the president to enforce the laws of the United States and is called the Take Care Clause, also known as the Faithful Execution Clause or Faithfully Executed Clause. This clause is meant to ensure that a law is faithfully executed by the president even if he disagrees with the purpose of that law. Addressing the North Carolina ratifying convention, William Maclaine declared that the Faithful Execution Clause was "one of the [Constitution's] best provisions." If the president "takes care to see the laws faithfully executed, it will be more than is done in any government on the continent; for I will venture to say that our government, and those of the other states, are, with respect to the execution of the laws, in many respects mere ciphers." President George Washington interpreted this clause as imposing on him a unique duty to ensure the execution of federal law. Discussing a tax rebellion, Washington observed, "it is my duty to see the Laws executed: to permit them to be trampled upon with impunity would be repugnant to [that duty.]"

According to former United States Assistant Attorney General Walter E. Dellinger III, the Supreme Court and the Attorneys General have long interpreted the Take Care Clause to mean that the president has no inherent constitutional authority to suspend the enforcement of the laws, particularly of statutes. The Take Care Clause demands that the president obey the law, the Supreme Court said in Humphrey's Executor v. United States, and repudiates any notion that he may dispense with the law's execution. In Printz v. United States, the Supreme Court explained how the president executes the law: "The Constitution does not leave to speculation who is to administer the laws enacted by Congress; the president, it says, "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed," Art. II, §3, personally and through officers whom he appoints (save for such inferior officers as Congress may authorize to be appointed by the "Courts of Law" or by "the Heads of Departments" with other presidential appointees), Art. II, §2."

The president may not prevent a member of the executive branch from performing a ministerial duty lawfully imposed upon him by Congress. (See Marbury v. Madison (1803); and Kendall v. United States ex rel. Stokes (1838).) Nor may the president take an action not authorized either by the Constitution or by a lawful statute. (See Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952).) Finally, the president may not refuse to enforce a constitutional law, or "cancel" certain appropriations, for that would amount to an extra-constitutional veto or suspension power.
....

[Marthe48]

21. Remember when the Bald Eagle scared trump?

trump even wants to get back at a bird

[BlueIdaho]

2. Time to reign in Presidential Powers...

Regardless of Party, the unitary Presidency is out of control.

[catbyte]

3. Translation: he's gutting it so his worthless spawn can murder any species at will.

Every day I wake up thinking I can't loathe these lowlifes, criminals, and traitors any more than I already do, and every day I'm proven wrong.

[Mrs. Overall]

6. Exactly how I feel.

[ancianita]

12. More likely, to allow corporate extractors into National Park lands.

[catbyte]

17. They probably would consider it a twofer.

[ancianita]

19. Yep.

[Zorro]

4. From the NY Times:

The Trump administration on Monday announced that it would change the way the Endangered Species Act is applied, significantly weakening the nation’s bedrock conservation law credited with rescuing the bald eagle, the grizzly bear and the American alligator from extinction.

The changes could clear the way for new mining, oil and gas drilling, and development in areas where protected species live. The new rules will make it harder to consider the effects of climate change on wildlife when deciding whether a given species warrants protection. They would most likely shrink critical habitats and, for the first time, allow economic factors to be taken into account when making determinations.

Environmental groups denounced the changes as a disaster for imperiled wildlife at a time when the United Nations has warned that human pressures are poised to drive one million species into extinction and that protecting land and biodiversity is critical to keep greenhouse gas emissions in check.

Climate change, a lack of environmental stewardship and mass industrialization have all contributed to the enormous expected global nature loss, the report said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/climate/endangered-species-act-changes.html

The Trump administration and its Republican enablers are relentless in making this country more awful every day.

[IcyPeas]

11. The changes could clear the way for new mining, oil and gas drilling...

thanks Zorro

and that's what it's all about. oil.... gas... drilling

The changes could clear the way for new mining, oil and gas drilling, and development in areas where protected species live. The new rules will make it harder to consider the effects of climate change on wildlife when deciding whether a given species warrants protection. They would most likely shrink critical habitats and, for the first time, allow economic factors to be taken into account when making determinations.

[Farmer-Rick]

5. So now the Endangered Species Act is a travel guide on what animals you can wipe out.

[Pacifist Patriot]

7. This administration is not happy unless it finds new ways to kill more living things every day.

Sure feels like they have a death fetish to me.

[Blue_Tires]

8. The Intercept and Jacobin were unavailable for comment

[underpants]

9. Just tragic

Really upsets me the world we are leaving for my daughter

[hermetic]

10. Know what I want to see

on the Endangered Species list? The whole stinking Trump crime family.

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Every day I despise this administration more.

[SCVDem]

14. Add it to the list!

The list of things which will be overturned by our next Democratically elected government!

Companies investing millions will be shut down and lose their investment.

Act on tRumps deregulation at your own financial peril.

See also: The auto industry moving forward despite dump changing the CAFE standards.

California economically is bigger than his base. Hell, Los Angeles has more money than his base combined.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

15. Drumph: "Science? I don't need no stinkin' science!"

Even once he's out of office, the damage that Fat Donnie is doing to our government and the environment will take decades to recover, if they recover at all.

And he still thinks he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize because he receives "beautiful letters" from Kim Yung Un.

[Bayard]

16. No empathy

This man can't even stand to be around a dog. He could care less what happens to wildlife.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” “Life is as precious to us as it is for an animal."

We suck right now.

[sakabatou]

18. Trump cares more about money than the planet

[dalton99a]

20. Correct headline: Trump Endeavors to Kill Endangered Species

[Hotler]

22. Asshole. nt