dc.description.abstract | The Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 established a baseline for the ethical treatment of
threatened or endangered species and acted, in a pivotal time for environmental legislature, as the
first large-scale species protective measure. Drafted on the heels of two other national
environmental standards, the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Clean Water Act of 1972, the ESA is
composed of 18 sections dedicated to the documentation, monitoring, and protection of threatened
or endangered species. However, due to the broad nomenclature found in Section 9, the strict
implications for the public, the lack of expenditure documentations, the general lack of species
successes, the immense backlog of unaddressed species and inadequate filing method, the ESA
now provides little relief to the plants and animals it protects. Simply because the ESA is a
foundational achievement of modern environmental legislature does not make it beneficial today
– it also does nothing to acknowledge the displacement of species due to climate change. There is
an environmental movement occurring which champions proposed amendments and alterations to
the Act. This is quite possibly the only way to utilize the legislature without an altogether repeal.
These actions must be taken quickly, as in recent years the ESA has become a target for American
politicians looking to decrease government expenditures. Under the amendments proposed by the
Obama administration, and further actions by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National
Marine Fisheries Service, the ESA has the potential to save countless species on the brink of
extinction. | eng |