Unusual battle lines have been drawn in Washington, D.C. to reverse outdated government rules that were intended to protect species on the brink of extinction but instead are abused to thwart oil production, road construction, and grazing.
Legislation reversing endangered species protection for the lesser prairie chicken has passed both the Democrat-controlled Senate and GOP-led House and is on its way to President Biden for his signature.
Big shock, Biden is balking and threatening to veto the bipartisan measure.
It seems the swamp rats running the White House convinced the old goat that eliminating the onerous government rules that cost landowners a fortune as they struggle to stay in businesses would “create uncertainty for landowners and industries.”
Some Democrats are also mad the Republicans aren’t working harder to make summer end and bring back winter because they claim the climate is killing people.
They conveniently look past the fact it took Democrat votes to pass the similar measure in the (checks notes), Democrat-led Senate.
What progressives and Biden are really mad about is that Congress is calling the bluff of extremist Democrats who have far too long used the Endangered Species Act to exterminate businesses they find offensive, like farming, ranching, and natural resources like oil and gas.
Rules for the bird, which is not on the verge of extinction but numbers in the tens of thousands across numerous states including Colorado, has also been used to block road construction and power line construction.
We say kudos to Congress for finally reaching across the political aisle and rolling back the excesses of paper-pushing bureaucrats who are more interested in checking political boxes back in the Beltway than doing what’s best for the American West.