Does anyone know what ESA-based lawsuits he is talking about that "chip away at hunting"?
I just went out to Al Gore's internet and Googled "wolf hunting lawsuits." I got 219,000 results. The first page all being ESA lawsuits to stop wolf hunting in the Great Lakes states.
I Googled "grizzly bear hunting lawsuits." I got 88,000 results, with the first one being a lawsuit to close areas in western WY to elk hunting, as the carcasses left by elk hunters is supposedly increasing human-grizzly conflicts.
I just Googled "bison hunting lawsuits ESA" and got 824,000 results, with the first two about stopping bison hunting under some section of the ESA.
A guy as smart as you knows that the ESA is being used as a tool of abuse by many groups who want control over landscape-scale decisions, regardless of the peril that species is facing. Most people support the ESA in its original intent, but like much legislation, the more it gets abused, the less support for such.
I think the environmental community needs to do some reckoning among themselves. I predict that if a Republican wins the 2016 Presidential election (probably less than a 50% chance) and the Republicans maintain control of Congress (probably greater than 50% chance), one of the first things you will see is a gutting of the ESA. Congress passed that law and they can change it, removing the judiciary from the discussion.
When it happens, it will be an ugly day, as a swing of the pendulum never stops in the middle, rather goes well past any middle ground. If it does happen, the environmental litigators will have one group to thank for such; those they see when looking in the mirror.
If not for the abuse by many of these groups, the fringe operators of Big Game Forever and SFW would have almost no traction on issues such as wolves or sage grouse. Yet, the continual litigation under the ESA is fuel for the fringe world.
