Endangered Species Act: The End?

Yesterday our coin-operated House of Representatives voted 229-193 to completely overhaul the Endangered Species Act.

Representative Richard Pombo, Chairman of the House Resources Committee, has been champing at the bit to abolish the Endangered Species Act ever since 1994 when Republicans took control of the House. It’s been his sole purpose in life.

The Endangered Species Act was passed during the presidency of that well-known treehugger, Richard Nixon. OK, so we saved the Bald Eagle from extinction; fine. Now, what about the profits of developers?

Like prostitutes and call girls everywhere, Congress likes the big spenders. Those lowly environmental groups with their chintzy spending — who’d they ever get re-elected? Congress doesn’t want to turn tricks for those cheapskates. Developers, ranchers and timber companies are Congress’ favorite johns. They offer some of the biggest bribes, and our hookers representatives are only too happy to bend over and earn their “favors.”

Pombo wants landowners to be “compensated,” i.e. get government handouts taken out of our tax dollars, in return for their noble act of complying with the Endangered Species Act. Nick Rahall, D-West Virginia, said this bill sets a “dangerous precedent that private individuals must be paid to comply with an environmental law. What’s next? Paying citizens to wear seat belts? ... This bill will not improve species’ ability to recover.”

There are 1,268 plants and animals currently listed as threatened or endangered. Over the years, twelve species have recovered enough to be taken off the list; nine have gone extinct.

Fortunately, this new Developers’ Giveaway Act faces an uphill battle when it gets to the Senate. Lincoln Chafee, R-Rhode Island, is head of the panel that will oversee the new law; he has “expressed concerns” about the law. Hopefully the crippled “leadership” of Insider-Trading Cat-Torturing Video-Doctor “Bill” Frist will be unable to get this bill passed in the Senate.