[MCN] The Hill: Endangered Species Act uncertainty under Trump

[Lance Olsen]

The Endangered Species Act: Uncertainty under Trump
BY CASSANDRA CARMICHAEL - 01/27/17 10:40 AM EST

1st three paragraphs

Environmental preservation is an issue that has 
enjoyed bountiful support across all religions 
and party lines for more than a century, which is 
why it's troubling to see today's leaders using 
the Endangered Species Act -- a bill championed 
by Republican President Richard Nixon meant to 
protect endangered species and their habitats -- 
as a political football.

The previous Congress introduced over 250 
amendments, bills, and riders aimed at stripping 
away provisions of the ESA, such as provisions 
that would limit lawsuits as a means to maintain 
protections for species or limit the number of 
species that can be protected. With the GOP 
firmly in control of both the House and Senate, 
it is likely these efforts will be renewed in 
earnest, and have a much better chance of 
succeeding. But these direct attacks on the ESA 
are not the only threat to our wildlife.

In light of recent nominations to his 
administration and their track record, we worry 
that President Trump is going to establish a 
precedent of overlooking the best available 
science and stray even further from his party's 
traditional values of conservation in favor of 
commercial gains.

Full article
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/316464-the-endangered-species-act-uncertainty-under-trump
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"Climate scientist James Hansen has suggested 
that 350 ppm was the concentration beyond which 
it was unsafe to go. The rapid retreat as well as 
thinning of the Arctic Ocean ice is consistent 
with that conclusion. So, too, Earth's ecosystems 
and biodiversity are sending multiple signals 
that essentially confirm 350 ppm as the limit. 
Unquestionably we are beyond where we should be."

Thomas E. Lovejoy, Tim Flannery and Achim Steiner
International Herald Tribune
Monday, October 27, 2008
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"The profession of logging has changed 
drastically," said Dougherty. "When I first moved 
here, trees were cut with chain saws, chokers 
were done by hand, and timber was taken to the 
landing and bucked by hand.

"Now, trees are felled, accumulated, and put near 
a skid trail by machinery. A grapple then grabs 
the trees and takes them to the landing. At the 
landing, a worker uses a log processor to convert 
the raw trees into logs.

"Human hands virtually never touch the timber anymore."

Kathryn Star Heart "Seeing the Forest for the 
Trees,"   RuralNorthwest.com   Sep 23, 2008, 21:27

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
" Š. the earth's atmosphere is so thoroughly 
mixed and so rapidly recycled through the 
biosphere that the next breath you inhale will 
contain atoms exhaled by Jesus at Gethsemane and 
Adolf Hitler at Munich."

Preston Cloud and Aharon Gibor. "The Oxygen Cycle."
Scientific American, September 1970