Climate Change and the Endangered Species Act: Building Bridges to the No-Analog Future

• Date: 01 August 2009

8-2009 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY ANNUAL REVIEW 39 ELR 10735

A R T I C L E

Climate Change and the Endangered

Species Act: Building Bridges

to the No-Analog Future

by J.B. Ruhl

J.B. Ruhl is the Matthews & Hawkins Professor of Property at e Florida State University College of Law, Tallahassee, Florida.

I. Introduction

e pika is toast. More specically, the American pika

( ) is running out of places to live,1 and

global climate cha nge appears to be the primar y cause of

its decline.2 is tiny rabbit-like species has the unfortunate

1. e background on the pika in this paragraph is derived from Donald K. Gray-

son,   , 32 J. B 2103 (2005),

and Erik A. Beever et al., -

    , 84 J. M 37

(2003).

2. In this Article, I unapologetically adopt the premise that global climate change

is occurring at anomalously rapid rates compared to historical trends, and

that anthropogenic (human-induced) sources of greenhouse gases (primarily

carbon dioxide) are a signicant causal factor. I do not endeavor here to at-

tempt to convince anyone of this. e Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change (IPCC), an international scientic project representing hundreds of

scientists, has produced a series of reports, including a comprehensive set in

2007, synthesizing scientic information on climate change and its eects

on ecological conditions, all of which support the premises adopted herein.

See, e.g., I P  C C, S 

P, C C 2007: I, A,  V-

, C  W G II   F A

R   I P  C C -

(2007), available at http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg2/ar4-

wg2-spm.pdf [hereinafter C C I S] (last visited

May 18, 2009); I P  C C, S

 P, C C 2007: M, C 

W G III   F A R   I-

 P  C C passim (2007), available at http://

www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg3/ar4-wg3-spm.pdf (last visited

May 18, 2009); I P  C C, S

 P, C C 2007: T P S B,

C  W G I   F A R

trait of being remark ably well-adapted to the cold, high-

altitude, montane habitat of the Sierra Nevada and Rocky

Mountain ranges in the North A merican Great Basin. e

pika’s problem is that as global climate change causes surface

temperatures to rise, the altitude below which pikas cannot

nd suitable conditions for survival also is rising.

e pika’s recent decline and gloomy future ca ll to mind

the protective capacity of the Endangered Species Act

(ESA),3 often referred to as the “pit bull ” of environmental

laws.4 e United States Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS),

which administers the ESA for terrestrial and freshwater

species,5 has identied over 1250 animal and plant species in

the United States for protection and has exercised its regula-

tory authority throughout the nation to fulll the statute’s

goal of conserving imperiled species.6 e ESA is credited

  I P  C C - (2007), avail-

able at http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-spm.pdf

[hereinafter P S B S] (last visited May 18, 2009);

I P  C C, C C 

B, IPCC T P V 1 (2002), available at http://www.

ipcc.ch/pdf/technical-papers/climate-changes-biodiversity-en.pdf [hereinafter

C C  B] (last visited May 18, 2009). See generally

I P  C C, C C 2007

S R: S  P M (2007), available at http://

www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf (last visited May

18, 2009) (summarizing the IPCC’s work to date).

3. Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 U.S.C. §§1531-44, ELR S. ESA

§§-.

4. See, e.g., Steven P. Quarles, 

, 15 E. F. 55, 55 (1998) (discussing the origins of

this reputation). See generally Steven P. Quarles & omas R. Lundquist, e

, 16 N. R  E’

59 (providing additional historical context highlighting the Act’s “overbearing

statutory certainty”).

5. e National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine

Fisheries Service (NMFS) (also known as NOAA-Fisheries) administers the

ESA for most marine species and anadromous sh. My principal focus is on

FWS and terrestrial and freshwater species. What is observed in this article

about the ESA, however, applies equally to admin istration of the statute by

the NMFS.

6. See U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv., e Endangered Species Program, http://www.

fws.gov/endangered/ (last visited May 22, 2009) (providing information about

the program and highlighting recent stories).

e author wo uld like to thank Michael Bean, Robin Kundis Craig,

Holly Doremus, Don Elliott, Alex Klass, David Policansky, and Ka-





  

to my research assistants Nino Chiarello and the late Lucinda L ago-

  -

     

88 B.U. L. R. 1 (2008) and is reprinted

with permission.

Copyright © 2009 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.