Ranchers have been allowed to stock zoos and wildlife refuges and export the animals to their native lands without seeking government approval at every turn. The agency also allowed them to generate some of the revenue needed to feed and vaccinate the herds by holding private hunts of surplus, older, non-breeding animals, as well as those with poor genetic traits. But such “profiteering”—even in support of animal rescue—was anathema to Friends of Animals, a group that claims “to cultivate a respectful view of nonhuman animals.”
The Environmental Protection Agency called a Daily Caller report “comically wrong” this morning. That is an interesting analysis given that the EPA’s hideously bad global warming regulations are more of a joke than actual regulatory structure. Either way, the fun and games will soon end when Americans are paying higher energy prices and businesses are shedding jobs as a result of these “comically wrong” regulations. Earlier this week, The Daily Caller’s Matthew Boyle wrote that “The Environmental Protection Agency has said new greenhouse gas regulations, as proposed, may be “absurd” …
When studying Isaac Newton’s laws of motion in high school, we all learn that every action has a reaction. I was recently reminded of that simple truth of physics at a symposium addressing poverty. Last week, as part of a two-day forum sponsored by The Heritage Foundation at the University of Mobile, Jay Richards spoke about why “Good Intentions Aren’t Good Enough.” His main point was that well-meaning government policies often end up hurting those they are designed to help. In other words, what seem like compassionate actions can have …
Today the Obama administration’s Department of Interior announced that it would keep a Bush administration rule forbidding government scientists from considering global warming when protecting polar bears pursuant to the Endangered Species Act. When the Bush Interior Department announced their rule, they were roundly criticized by the enviro-left. It will be interesting to see how they react to the Obama administration taking the same position. More interesting is how the Obama EPA justified their decision. McClatchy reports: On Friday, the Interior Department reluctantly agreed, saying that it’s scientifically impossible to …
Washington – Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), whom we have previously profiled on the Foundry, visited the Conservative Bloggers’ Briefing today and warned against radical environmental regulations cutting off the livelihoods of millions of Americans, just as thousands have lost jobs in his home district. “If you want to see the bellwether of this country, you need to look no further than California,” Nunes said, while about a quarter of the present bloggers, who happened to be from California, nodded their heads. “Good thing you’re here because its about ready to fall off into …
Recently, House Members have added a provision to the Omnibus bill that “allows the Interior Department to withdraw two Endangered Species Act rules (one on Section 7 consultation and another on polar bears) within 60 days of enactment.” There are two key questions to be addressed under this provision. 1.) What does this mean for global warming policy and 2.) What does this mean for infrastructure spending projects designed to stimulate the economy? Let’s begin with the stimulus. In a plan that was intended to be quick and temporary, Congress …
Environmentalists are being fundamentally dishonest when they sell there carbon reduction plans as “market friendly” cap and trade solutions, and not the massive energy taxes that they really are. But at least the eviros are participating in the democratic process when they try and legislate. The same can not be side of environmentalist efforts to control the economy through the federal courts. Hugh Hewitt has been doing a fantastic job documenting the scope of what environmentalists are planning to do with the Interior Department’s listing of the polar bear as …
The Sacramento Bee reports today that when it comes to environmental cases in cases in federal court, the Bush Administration appears to have the worst losing percentage of any administration over the past three decades. As NRO’s Jonathan Adler explains today, that percentage is not going to get any better when the Interior Department is forced to defend its novel decision to not designate a “critical habitat” when listing the polar bear as “threatened” pursuant to the Endangered Species Act. Adler writes: The ESA bars the government from authorizing, funding, …
For decades the environmental movement has drafted the world’s cutest and cuddliest mega fauna as symbols for their cause. From the grizzly to the panda, bears have always been the top choice for environmental iconography. In recent years environmental activists have enlisted the polar bear in their effort to take control of the U.S. economy on the grounds that global warming is destroying the bear’s arctic habitat. Now that the Interior Department has listed the polar bear as “endangered” pursuant to the Environmental Species Act (ESA), however, libertarians who are …
The Department of the Interior is expected to announce soon that polar bears have been designated a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The justification for such a move will not be that polar bears are actually declining. Rather, the justification will be based on speculation that they may decline in the future as a result of global warming. Global warming, so the argument goes, is causing Arctic sea ice to melt, and, unless that process is arrested, polar bears will be unable to survive because they need Arctic …
