KBB update 061804

06/18/04 - The Property and Environmental Research Center (PERC) has published a report called Accounting for Species - The True Costs of the Endangered Species Act (2004). This report contradicts the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) report Three-Year Summary of Federal and State Endangered Species Expenditures, Fiscal Years 1998-2000 that only covers federal and state costs.

A list of key omissions:

	ESA implementation costs that benefit multiple species
	ESA implementation administrative costs and ESA implementation costs that are incurred abroad
	Government-wide costs
	Actual costs to taxpayers
	Costs to state and local entities of implementing species recovery
	Additional costs to local governments from ESA-caused interference with building schools, hospitals, roads, and other infrastructure projects
	Economic impacts relating to FWS regulation of 38 million acres of private land through conservation plans
	Private costs such as development projects being denied, delayed, or their scope reduced
	Social costs from regulatory burdens placed on agricultural production, water use, forest management, mineral extraction, and recreation
	Overall financial costs to society when people lose their jobs or have to pay higher prices for necessities
	Costs of reduced or terminated business activities and jobs; increased costs to provide services; reduced tax revenues from reduced or terminated business income; personal income; or property devaluation; and costs of public assistance provided to individuals who lose jobs

We have provided the link to this important report on our The Endangered Species Act page. You will also note that we have added several other new articles and links to our ESA page.