Ryan Zinke’s Interior Department proposes to significantly weaken the landmark law that saved the bald eagle, the gray wolf and other species from extinction.
The 1973 Endangered Species Act is at once the noblest and most contentious of the landmark environmental statutes enacted during the Nixon presidency. For 45 years it has been celebrated by conservationists for protecting, in Richard Nixon’s words, “an irreplaceable part of our natural heritage, threatened wildlife.” In equal measure, it has been reviled by developers, ranchers, loggers and oil and gas interests for elevating the needs of plants and animals and the habitats necessary for their survival over the demands of commerce. Approved by huge margins in both chambers (the House vote was an astounding 355 to 4), the act would stand zero chance of passage in today’s Congress and political climate...