Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Act (7 U.S.C. 136; 16 U.S.C. 460 et seq. (1973)) of 1973 or ESA was the most wide-ranging of dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s in an attempt to halt or reverse the degradation of the environment. The act is designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction due to "the consequences of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation." Congress passed its first legislation to protect endangered vertebrates in 1966 and expanded the law again in 1969. In 1973 Congress expanded both the scope and power of species protection by creating the Endangered Species Act. The stated purpose of the Act is not only to protect species, but also "the ecosystems upon which they depend." At the species level, the Act protects all plants and animals, while previously laws protected only vertebrates. If forbids federal agencies from authorizing, funding or carrying out actions which may jeopardize endangered species species. It forbids any government agency, corporation, or citizen from taking (i.e. harming or killing) endangered animals without a permit. At the ecosystem level, the Act requires that endangered species be granted "critical habitats" which encompass all areas necessary for their recovery. Federal agencies are forbidden from authorizing, funding, or carrying out any action which "destroys or adversely modifies" a critical habitat area.

Listing

A species can be listed via two mechanisms. The first is for the FWS or NMFS to take the initiative and directly list the species. The second way is via individual or organizational petition. There are two categories on the list, endangered and threatened. Endangered species are closer to extinction than threatened species. A third status is that of "candidate species". Under this status, the FWS has concluded that listing is warranted but immediate listing is precluded due to other priorities (limited time, perhaps political pressure to delay listing).

Related Topics:
Endangered species - Extinction - Threatened species

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It is illegal to kill, buy, sell or trade listed species. The penalties for violating the Endangered Species Act can be as serious as a $50,000 fine and up to a year in jail.

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Further, the FWS develops a plan to help the listed species recover, and requires that developers and the government protect "critical habitats," the special places that endangered species need to survive and recover.

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The Environmental Protection Agency bases decisions to register a pesticide in part on the risk of adverse effects on endangered species as well as its environmental fate, its effect in the ecosystem.

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The Endangered Species Act has been enormously successful at preventing extinctions. Between 98-99% of species protected by the law have been preserved from extinction. Scientists believe that the United States would have experienced an order of magnitude more extinctions but for the protective provisions of the Endangered Species Act.

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The Endangered Species Act is a democratic statute in the Jacksonian tradition. The Act contains a citizen enforcement clause, allowing citizens and scientists to sue the government to list a species with dwindling numbers or to comply with the law.

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