Ranchers support removing Endangered Species Act protections for Mexican wolves
Tom Peterson with the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association says taxpayers are “unfortunate casualties” of this overlay now that the Mexican wolf population is stable under ESA guidelines.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are weighing a proposal that would remove Mexican wolves from the Endangered Species Act. Industry groups are backing the bill, with one expert saying federal restrictions have created major challenges for livestock producers.
“For the last 25 years, my neighbors and I have seen the worst kind of impacts from a federal policy,” said Tom Paterson, president-elect of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association. “Here is the Endangered Species Act that treats local people as acceptable sacrifices for a national initiative to recover an apex predator for two and a half decades.”
Peterson says this outlay comes despite the Mexican wolf population being stable enough that it should no longer be a protected species.
“We have been unfortunate and unacceptable casualties in this,” Peterson said. “This is a story to recover Mexican wolves. Taxpayers have shared our misery. Mexican wolf recovery has cost taxpayers nearly $260,000 for each wolf now on the ground. That’s more than a quarter of a million dollars. Each recovery cost taxpayers more than $15 million over the past three years alone.”
The number of wolves now on the ground meets the number identified in the ESA recovery plan.
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) joined us on Champions of Rural America to share his insights on upcoming changes to public land management and how they will benefit agriculture and the Western working class.
The Interior Department is proposing to repeal the Bureau of Land Management’s Public Lands Rule. This move would make huge strides to empower local decision-making and restore balance between conservation and protecting rural livelihoods tied to these public lands.
Pressure to lower gas prices across the Golden State could be the saving grace of this year’s corn harvest. California may soon be the final U.S. state to approve E-15 sales.
Lewie Pugh, with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, joined us on Monday’s Market Day Report with his insights on the incident and a deeper dive into the issues at hand.
The amendments affect BLM lands in several Western states. Comments on the Sage grouse proposals can be made to the BLM National NEPA Register until Oct. 3.
Mike Formica with the National Pork Producers Council joined us on Market Day Report with his reaction to the EPA’s rollback of a Biden-era wastewater discharge mitigation plan.
