{"id":10014,"date":"2023-02-16T15:34:27","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T15:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=10014"},"modified":"2023-02-16T15:34:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T15:34:27","slug":"the-us-was-poised-to-pass-the-biggest-environmental-law-in-a-generation-what-went-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=10014","title":{"rendered":"The US was poised to pass the biggest environmental law in a generation. What went wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“One-third<\/a> or so of species in the US are threatened with extinction, according to the Nature Conservancy. Think about that: One in three species could disappear for good. That includes things like owls, salamanders, fish, and plants, each of which contributes some function to ecosystems that we depend on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, there\u2019s such a thing as conservation, and in the US, much of it is done by state wildlife agencies. Fish and game departments have a range of programs to monitor and manage species that include reintroducing locally extinct animals<\/a> and setting regulations for hunting and fishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

heir work, however, faces a couple of big problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first is that states don\u2019t have enough money. Roughly 80 percent<\/a> of funding for state-led conservation comes from selling hunting and fishing licenses, in addition to federal excise taxes on related gear, such as guns and ammo. These activities aren\u2019t as popular<\/a> as they once were. \u201cThat results in less conservation work getting done,\u201d Andrew Rypel, a freshwater ecologist at the University of California Davis, told Vox<\/a> in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another challenge is that states spend virtually all the money they do raise on managing animals that people like to hunt or fish, such as elk and trout. \u201cAt the state level, there\u2019s been almost zero focus on non-game fish and wildlife,\u201d Daniel Rohlf, a law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, said in August. That leaves out many species \u2014 including, say, kinds of freshwater mussels<\/a> \u2014 that play incredibly important roles in our ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RAWA could be a fix. The bill would provide state wildlife agencies a total of $1.3 billion a year by 2026, based on the state\u2019s size, human population, and the number of federally threatened species. RAWA also includes nearly $100 million for the nation\u2019s Native American tribes, who own or help manage nearly 140 million acres<\/a> of land in the US (equal to about 7 percent of the continental US).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One feature of RAWA that makes it so useful, according to environmental advocates, is that it requires states to protect animals that are imperiled, whether or not they\u2019re targeted by hunters and fishers. \u201cThat\u2019s funding that doesn\u2019t exist right now,\u201d Rohlf said.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“After RAWA passed the House last summer, lawmakers turned to the bill\u2019s tallest hurdle: the \u201cpay-for,\u201d a.k.a. how to cover the cost of the legislation, without having to raise the deficit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Negotiations carried on throughout the fall, and legislators put forward a number of different proposals. In the final weeks of the congressional term, it looked as though the government would pay for RAWA by closing a tax loophole related to cryptocurrency, as E&E News\u2019s Emma Dumain reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, lawmakers couldn\u2019t agree on the details. That\u2019s why RAWA got cut from the omnibus bill.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/down-to-earth\/2023\/1\/11\/23546413\/recovering-americas-wildlife-act-congress-2023<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“One-third or so of species in the US are threatened with extinction, according to the Nature Conservancy. Think about that: One in three species could disappear for good. That includes things like owls, salamanders, fish, and plants, each of which contributes some function to ecosystems that we depend on.
\nThankfully, there\u2019s such a thing as conservation, and in the US, much of it is done by state wildlife agencies. Fish and game departments have a range of programs to monitor and manage species that include reintroducing locally extinct animals and setting regulations for hunting and fishing.<\/p>\n

heir work, however, faces a couple of big problems.<\/p>\n

The first is that states don\u2019t have enough money. Roughly 80 percent of funding for state-led conservation comes from selling hunting and fishing licenses, in addition to federal excise taxes on related gear, such as guns and ammo. These activities aren\u2019t as popular as they once were. \u201cThat results in less conservation work getting done,\u201d Andrew Rypel, a freshwater ecologist at the University of California Davis, told Vox in August.<\/p>\n

Another challenge is that states spend virtually all the money they do raise on managing animals that people like to hunt or fish, such as elk and trout. \u201cAt the state level, there\u2019s been almost zero focus on non-game fish and wildlife,\u201d Daniel Rohlf, a law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, said in August. That leaves out many species \u2014 including, say, kinds of freshwater mussels \u2014 that play incredibly important roles in our ecosystems.<\/p>\n

RAWA could be a fix. The bill would provide state wildlife agencies a total of $1.3 billion a year by 2026, based on the state\u2019s size, human population, and the number of federally threatened species. RAWA also includes nearly $100 million for the nation\u2019s Native American tribes, who own or help manage nearly 140 million acres of land in the US (equal to about 7 percent of the continental US).<\/p>\n

One feature of RAWA that makes it so useful, according to environmental advocates, is that it requires states to protect animals that are imperiled, whether or not they\u2019re targeted by hunters and fishers. \u201cThat\u2019s funding that doesn\u2019t exist right now,\u201d Rohlf said.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“After RAWA passed the House last summer, lawmakers turned to the bill\u2019s tallest hurdle: the \u201cpay-for,\u201d a.k.a. how to cover the cost of the legislation, without having to raise the deficit.<\/p>\n

Negotiations carried on throughout the fall, and legislators put forward a number of different proposals. In the final weeks of the congressional term, it looked as though the government would pay for RAWA by closing a tax loophole related to cryptocurrency, as E&E News\u2019s Emma Dumain reported.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, lawmakers couldn\u2019t agree on the details. That\u2019s why RAWA got cut from the omnibus bill.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[905,542,103,906],"class_list":["post-10014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-bill","tag-congress","tag-environment","tag-legislation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10015,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10014\/revisions\/10015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}