Barriers To Endangered Species Act Delisting

This handbook is a guide to the federal Endangered Species Act, the primary U.S. law aimed at protecting species of animals and plants from human threats to their survival. It is intended for lawyers, government agency employees, students, community activists, businesspeople, and any citizen who wants to understand the Act--its history, provisions, accomplishments, and failures.

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) is one of the most cherished and reviled laws ever passed. It mandates protection and preservation of all the nation’s species and biodiversity, whatever the cost. It has been a lightning rod for controversy and conflicts between industry/business and environmentalists. The year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of this law, and provides an opportunity for a measured and thorough evaluation thereof. We cannot know today’s challenges and opportunities without understanding their histories. This book is the most comprehensive history of the ESA ever published, and the first to consider the entire history of the law from all angles in a single volume. The history of the ESA has been one of increasing impact, complexity, and controversy. In 1978, the Supreme Court declared that Congress intended for the U.S. government to save all species at any cost, and thereafter application of the ESA became steadily more controversial, as seen in the example of the northern spotted owl and the timber wars in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1980s and early 90s, and then everywhere as the ESA became a political football in the highly partisan environment of the late 1990s and amendments to the law ceased. This book is not only a history, but a call to action. It will take more conservation, more funding, and more innovative solutions if we are to save our wildlife and biodiversity. It will take the engagement to every American to muster the collective will to meet this challenge. The hope of this book is that we will be able to look back and say that we accomplished more in the second 50 years of the ESA than we did in the first.

Drawing on his extensive experience as a prominent environmental lawyer and activist, Lowell Baier captures the colorful and important history of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and argues that it can be a powerful tool to ameliorate the biodiversity crisis while still respecting landowners, states, and industries.

Next Generation INDIE Book Awards Grand Prize Winner, Best Non-Fiction Book in 2017; and Winner in the Science/Nature/Environment category Finalist for Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards in Ecology and Environment In this book, Lowell E. Baier, one of America’s preeminent experts on environmental litigation, chronicles the century-long story of Americas’ resources management, focusing on litigations, citizen suit provisions, and attorneys’ fees. He provides the first book-length comprehensive examination of the little-known Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) and its role in environmental litigation. Originally intended to support veterans, the disabled and small business, EAJA, Baier argues, now paralyzes America’s public land management agencies. Baier introduces readers to the history of EAJA, examines the many beneficiaries of the law, describes in depth 20 of the most prominent litigious environmental groups in America, and recommends carefully tailored amendments to the EAJA to correct environmental abuses of the law while protecting legitimate interests. Inside the Equal Access to Justice Act will be a valuable resource for the environmental legal community, environmentalists, practitioners at all levels of government, and all readers interested in environmental policy and the rise of the administrative state.