By Sharon St Joan

In a May 6, 2015 article on the website of the Union of Concerned Scientists, “Your Handy Guide to Attacks on How the Endangered Species Act Uses Science,” Michael Halpern outlines major attacks being launched against the Endangered Species Act. He highlights congressional efforts to weaken and render the Act ineffective. The comments below are in response to, but not all are part of, the original article.

On May 7, the U.S. Senate will consider eight bills that would undermine the Endangered Species Act.

Putting blocks in the way of listing species

Some of these new bills being proposed would require economic considerations to be taken into account when determining which species deserve protection and would mandate an economic review before a species can be listed as endangered.

First of all, this would greatly slow down the process, requiring new, unfunded studies to take…