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from the honesty-is-becoming-endangered,-too dept.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries announced their proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act, ostensibly "to ensure clarity and consistency." They are asking for comments from the public by September 24. Comments can be made by mail or over a JavaScript-based Web site. All comments will be published on the Web site.
Here are alternate pages where the proposed rules may be read. These do not require JavaScript.
- Revision of the Regulations for Listing Species and Designating Critical Habitat - Docket Number: FWS-HQ-ES-2018-0006 (PDF version)
- Revision of the Regulations for Prohibitions to Threatened Wildlife and Plants - Docket Number: FWS-HQ-ES-2018-0007 (PDF version)
- Revision of Regulations for Interagency Cooperation - Docket Number: FWS-HQ-ES-2018-0009 (PDF version)
Business Insider; the Roseburg, Oregon News-Review (archive link for EU readers); Mother Nature Network; and Idaho Stateman have articles on the topic.
In related news, CBS News notes that "while the White House can act on its own, those changes could always be undone by future administrations" while reporting that members of Congress have prepared several bills which would revise the Endangered Species Act.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @12:44AM
Well, if we're going to do that, don't we need to know some names and places? Who was involved? Where did this happen? When did this happen? What news sources reported it?
Well, for some reason I doubt you'll get us the cites.
One of the things that makes this an effective urban legend is the fact that the land in the story is not owned by a faceless corporation. It's family, evoking cozy imagery, and bringing familiarity to the situation. It paints the family as victims of some external evil. They are well-meaning folk managing their land for benefit of all until the external evil comes along. Then, through cunning and guile, they defeat the external evil. It's a common mythical archetype.
The story concludes with a warning about the evil. The family that owns the land in the tale are heroes; however mere mortals, we are warned, will not be able to fend off this evil. The warning is a common feature of cautionary tales in folklore, and we see it used here effectively.
We are not meant to ask more details about what kinds of factors set this family apart from "normal land owners," especially ones that would defeat the warning by establishing that maybe "normal families" are not at such of a risk as our hero family after all.
My recommendation: work on the warning in relation to the opening exposition about the hero family. In order for this to be a more effective urban legend, we need to avoid stark contrast between the protagonist family (the heros who fended off evil) and the everyman family. This will allow the everyman to more effectively identify with the heroes rather than being tempted into, say, Marxism.