The President's Weakening of the Endangered Species Act is Criticized
Wednesday, August 14th, 2019 -- 8:42 AM
(WRN) -The Trump administration's weakening of the Endangered Species Act is being criticized.George Meyer is a former DNR Secretary and President of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.
"This is the wrong time to be weakening the federal Endangered Species Act."
Under the enforcement changes, officials for the first time will be able to publicly attach a cost to saving an animal or plant.
"And in most situations, a particular species, while it may be valuable for biological reasons and diversity reasons, isn't a big moneymaker in terms of economics."
The say the changes will make it more difficult to protect critical habitat.
"As we're being impacted by climate change, habitat for species changes."
The action could allow the government to disregard the possible impact of climate change.
"So land or water areas that need to be protected for the future for species, will not be able to be protected under the act."
Meyer says it will now also be harder to save endangered habitat for critical species. He says "this is the wrong time to be weakening the federal Endangered Species Act," which was enacted 45 years ago.
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