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Article: Is he worth saving?(controversy over Endangered Species Act)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- July 10, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Endangered Species Act, a law passed with virtually no legislative opposition 22 years ago, is now nearly as imperiled as the creatures it was designed to protect. Last week's Supreme Court ruling upholding the government's power to protect plants and animals on private land has only emboldened critics in Congress who charge that the law violates private-property rights, ravages local economies and wastes precious tax dollars on useless creatures that were on the verge of extinction anyway.
Opponents are now pushing for a major overhaul of the law. Already, legislators have effectively barred new endangered species listings for the remainder of the fiscal year. A ...