Calling the Endangered Species Act "broken," PERC's Randy
Simmons recently issued a call to dramatically revamp the way we
protect endangered species. Simmons' plan revolves around the
idea of "environmental federalism" : - "Under environmental
federalism, the national government is responsible for national
problems. Global extinctions are what really matters for a
species. It makes little sense to spend scarce money to protect
a marginal distinct subpopulation of a species already thriving
elsewhere, if it means you cannot protect another actual species
from extinction. Thus, the act should be amended to be an
endangered species, not subspecies, or distinct subpopulation
segment act. Then, states can decide whether or how to protect
subspecies. They can create interstate compacts for subspecies
whose range crosses state lines. Some will object to
environmental federalism, claiming states will engage in a race
to the bottom in an attempt to promote development. In fact, the
opposite tends to be true. State fo