Good news -- the Biden administration is taking steps to bolster protections for endangered animals under the Endangered Species Act which the Trump regime chipped away at.
More specifically, the administration will roll back a rule that says economic costs can be weighed against saving a species from going extinct; meaning it's okay to erase an animal from existence if plundering the land for natural resources would be valuable. The Trump regime wrote the rule to clearly favor business over environmental interests.
Republicans still in Washington today are opposed to repealing the Trump-era rules, of course, but their basis of opposition made me laugh my ass off this morning.
Republicans criticized the move for potentially undermining any push to rebuild roads, bridges and other infrastructure if opposed by environmentalists.
“Many of the reforms put in place under President Trump were born out of input from local communities and the men and women most affected by the policies created in Washington,” said Rep. Bruce Westerman (Ark.), the top Republican on the House panel. “Yet by reinstating burdensome regulations, this administration has once again opened the door for environmental groups to weaponize the ESA and use it to delay critical projects across the country.”
I suppose a few infrastructure projects could be delayed by environmentalists, but it's not as if Republicans are in a hurry to fund new infrastructure projects. They are currently trying to stop the Biden administration from passing an infrastructure spending bill. They are literally doing this right now.
The permanent extinction of any species is a terrible thing, of course, but for various reasons I was personally saddened by the Trump regime's decision to sunset protections for endangered gray wolves. The gray wolf is already extinct in large portions of the United States and has only been allowed to recover on the West Coast including Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. And like every other animal on the list, the Trump regime stripped them of special protections as a favor to ranchers and business interests.
Wolves were here before us.