Off to a bumbling start at Interior (maybe)

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Watts Up With That
Paul Driessen
Apr. 8, 2017

Was it because there were too few senior Trump Administration officials in place to catch and stop it? Or because Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was new on the job, and had so much on his plate, that this decision just slipped right past him?

Maybe it was because the new Administration faces so many battles with environmental activists already that it didn’t want another one?  Or perhaps Interior was intimidated by environmentalist lawsuits challenging President Trump’s 60-day delay of newly-issued Obama Administration regulations?

Whatever the reason, Trump’s Interior Department opened a real can of worms when it let the Obama Administration’s last-minute endangered species designation for the rusty patched bumblebee (RPB) take effect March 21 – exactly 60 days after President Trump issued his regulatory Executive Order.

The designation has serious adverse implications for Mr. Trump’s ambitious plans for infrastructure improvements, economic growth, job creation, and reining in regulatory abuse and overreach.

More... https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/04/08/off-to-a-bumbling-start-at-interior/

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Can't tell if this RPB farce could have been prevented but the article does indicate what environmentalist minefield Zinke is walking into.

[Smokin Joe]

Endangered species are the tool the ecowhackos use to stop development/use of any kind in its tracks. It is the duct tape in their toolbox, used against everything from oil exploration to private property development, so long as it isn't their property.

Frankly, as long as the balance in the system is maintained, the specific species may not matter as much, and the tendency to rate subgroups (like the northern and southern spotted owls) as separate species is a highly questionable practice, but it allows for assessments of reduced numbers.

One recently listed here was the Dakota Skipper Butterfly, so listed because, well, there aren't very many of them. Oddly enough, the 1910 survey of the State mentioned that there weren't very many of them then, either. (IOW, about the same prominence as back when, despite ranching and oil and gas activity). Just because some critter isn't prominent, doesn't mean it is endangered.

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One recently listed here was the Dakota Skipper Butterfly, so listed because, well, there aren't very many of them. Oddly enough, the 1910 survey of the State mentioned that there weren't very many of them then, either. (IOW, about the same prominence as back when, despite ranching and oil and gas activity). Just because some critter isn't prominent, doesn't mean it is endangered.

There is probably some equivalent critter in every corner of the country. If things are as bad as Driessen states then I hope Zinke can make appropriate changes to policy.

[Smokin Joe]

Can't tell if this RPB farce could have been prevented but the article does indicate what environmentalist minefield Zinke is walking into.

Lest we forget....

http://www.phschool.com/science/science_news/articles/wild_hair.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2002/apr/23/20020423-042157-8310r/

An old pelt, a box full of dead bees, something that makes a convincing track, and suddenly a project is on hold while a bunch of folks suck up grant or industry-supplied money to determine the extent of infestation by the 'endangered species' which may or may not even be present.

It's a gold mine for the enviros, a disaster for anyone else.

These species could thrive if people could 'take them in', but no one in their right mind would risk having their land shut down, functionally, by having those critters on it. Instead, the only sane policy for a landowner is SSS and don't get caught!

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Moving to editorial