Secretary of the Interior Kempthorne unveiled the Fish and Wildlife Service’s new “credit” and “banking” system for threatened and endangered species protections. The idea is that federal agencies will be allowed to take actions that inflict damage to protected species populations on federal land if they have accrued enough “credits” from conservation programs on private lands.
Secretary Kempthorne Announces New Conservation Mechanism for Threatened and Endangered Species – USFWS News Release 8/1/08
It seems to me listed species ought be afforded robust protections on federal lands and that FWS ought work with private property conservation anyway. Instead, conservation efforts with private property will be “banked” and allowed to roll back against public lands protections.
Offset programs like this can become very complicated obscuring/shuffling the verifiability of success – think Enron’s book-keeping practices. It will be interesting to see if the result of such obscurity is to increase deference to agency when making enforcement determinations – or maybe it’ll work.
Comments
Worst. Administration. Ever.
SCREEEEEECH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
STOP!!!!!!!!!!!
DO NOT PASS GO!!!!!
WRONG WRONG WRONG GONG GONG GONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is so asinine, ridiculous, and childlike that I’m surprised that even Kempthorne would have the consummate stupidity to even suggest it. Enough is enough; Idaho needs to be put under full public health quarantine as a means of perhaps at least slowing the flow of morons that it produces and exports.
So if this mentality of thinking trickles down into the rest of policy it would be okay to punch your wife because you baked her cookies the day before. Am i right?
Don’t underestimate Kempthorne. He will get even more stupid. Right now he is trying to justify his existence to the Repugnants so as to be offered some sort of job the first of the year.
Does anyone have any ideas as to the cause of Kempthorne’s unfortunate brain damage?
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Mack P. Bray
Wildlife Watchers
I am sure this would work about as well as our current financial banking system, the crooks steal and taxpayers are left holding the bag …. expect in this case no amount of money can replace a lost species.
So they kill all of species X on public lands because they have “credits” on private lands, then the private owners decide to plant subdivisions ….
There are lots of thing this administration does not respect, but first and foremost is the notion of public trust.
Todd
I’m such a banking system will be held to the same standards as the US House Bank, Fannie/Freddie, and Enron. Perhaps we should start banking oxygen and begin giving it to smokers; same logic, sorry.
I’m SURE such a banking system will be held to the same standards as the US House Bank, Fannie/Freddie, and Enron. Perhaps we should start banking oxygen and begin giving it to smokers; same logic, sorry.
(revised comment)
Jeff E’s right;
“Don’t underestimate Kempthorne. He will get even more stupid. Right now he is trying to justify his existence to the Repugnants so as to be offered some sort of job the first of the year.”
He and former gov. of MT~Marc C. Racicot were competing for this gravy job, now look where the former MT gov. is.
Kempthorne’s going to be getting million$ in pensions so he really has nothing to worry about except keeping his grubby hands in the pie. He’s greedy and vindictive, just like the resident.
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? This is a joke, right? Polar bears can be allowed to go extinct if Interior has helped save a beetle? Smart man that Kempthorne—Keep coming up with dumber decisions to make the ones you made earlier look smarter. Nice strategy!
The latest dumb ass move by Dick Kempthorne.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26143098/
Bush & Kempthorn destroy everything that makes life meaningful. Then tell us that is a banking system. They still slap on the feel-good labels to fool people, though they don’t give a damn what we want.