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--></style><title>PNAS paper reviewed in Science: Endangered species
not eco</title></head><body>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A">Study finds
criticisms of Endangered Species Act unfounded</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1"
color="#0040C2"><u
>http://news.sciencemag.org/environment/2015/12/study-finds-criticism</u
></font><font face="Geneva" size="-1"
color="#1A1A1A">s-endangered-species-act-unfounded</font><br>
<font face="Arial" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1"
color="#1A1A1A">Excerpts:</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"><br>
At the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) headquarters in Falls
Church, Virginia, sits a treasure trove of data. As part of a program
called TAILS (Advanced Tracking and Integrated Logging System), FWS
keeps records of consultations between its field agents and other
federal agencies whose proposed projects might affect federally
protected species. These consultations, mandated by Section 7 of the
Endangered Species Act (ESA), document which federal agencies have
authorized or funded projects-such as new oil and gas drilling-and
whether a given project poses any risk to threatened or endangered
species. Gary Frazer, assistant director for endangered species at
FWS, calls the TAILS data "pretty dry bureaucratic
stuff."</font><br>
<font face="Arial" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A">But Ya-Wei Li,
senior director of endangered species conservation at the Washington,
D.C.-based nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife, didn't think
so.</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A">He and his
colleagues hoped to find out whether common criticisms of Section
7-that the consultation process is onerous, it takes too long, and
it's bad for the economy-were borne out in the data. The results of
their year-and-a-half-long analysis, out today in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that many of the
reproaches of the process are unfounded. <<</font><font
face="Geneva" size="-1"
color="#0040C2"><u
>http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/12/01/1516938112.abstr</u></font
><font face="Geneva" size="-1"
color="#1A1A1A">act>></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A">FWS is frequently
called to testify before Congress about the economic impact of the
ESA, and lawmakers have floated several proposals to change it by
exempting certain actions from review or restricting its funding. The
act "is a very public controversial piece of legislation that
goes before Congress every session with proposals to revise it, and
that's because of the perception about how it's applied," says
Mark Schwartz, a conservation biologist at the University of
California, Davis.</font><br>
<font face="Arial" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A">The analysis shows
that the act "hasn't been killing the economy, hasn't stopped
jobs," Li says. "The empirical evidence and analysis shows
us that what some people thought was true is not."</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A">The paper may or
may not alleviate the tension between FWS and Congress, but it will at
least help the public see the locations of proposed projects, such as
North Dakota, where oil and gas development is now a booming industry.
Defenders of Wildlife is publishing an interactive tool that allows
anyone to investigate the consultation data and see what species are
most affected by projects in a specific state, for
example.</font></div>
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<div><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="-1"
color="#000000"
>================================================================<br>
<b>The Wall Street Journal, DECEMBER 3, 2011<br>
</b>OPINION<br>
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020383310457707190118689<span
></span>2744.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_opinion<br>
<b>China's Hard Landing</b></font><br>
<font face="Bookman Old Style" size="-1"
color="#000000"><b></b></font></div>
<div><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="-1"
color="#000000">Excerpts:<br>
"Now comes the hangover. . The country is littered with
luxurious county government offices, ghost cities of empty apartment
blocks, unsafe high-speed rail lines and crumbling highways to
nowhere."<br>
<br>
"Millions of luxury apartments are vacant, even as there is a
shortage of affordable housing for the poor."<br>
<br>
"Property construction became 'the most important sector in the
universe,' in the words of UBS economist Jonathan Anderson."<br>
<br>
"As with most property busts, transactions dried up, followed by
a free fall in prices. Land prices were down 60% year on year in
September. Property developers are slashing prices of new homes to
stave off bankruptcy."<br>
<br>
"There is no easy way to avoid the bust that is coming. The
silver lining is that China's increasingly state-led growth model will
be discredited, and a debate will begin on restarting the reforms that
stalled in the mid-2000s. A financial sector that allocates credit
based on politics rather than price signals led China into this mess.
Popular pressure to dismantle crony capitalism is
building"</font></div>
<div><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="-1" color="#000000"><br>
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020383310457707190118689<span
></span>2744.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_opinion<br>
=================================================================</font
></div>
<div><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="-1"
color="#000000"><b>Financial Times, September 10, 2014<br>
</b>COMMENT<br>
<b>China faces Japan-style debt woes: charts<br>
<br>
</b>Excerpts:<br>
"China's development unfortunately has largely followed the script
written by Japan some 30 years ago.<br>
"Like Japan, China's... government resorted to stimulus including
loose monetary policy and supportive housing policy, to hold up
growth; however, this unintentionally caused a property asset
inflation, often funded by debt."</font></div>
<div><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="-1" color="#000000"><br>
"The Chinese government is currently conducting mini-stimulus to
hold up growth, while allowing bad debt in the financial system to
worsen."</font></div>
<div><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="-1"
color="#000000">========================================</font></div>
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