Habitat For Humanity.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)

Property Rights: The House has passed a more reasonable version of the Endangered Species Act, this one a bit more respectful toward a critical habitat that was slighted by the original law.

The ESA is a Nixon-era law intended to protect plants and animals from extinction, largely by regulating economic growth and development. Since it went into effect, roughly 1,300 species have been listed as endangered or threatened.

Environmentalists love the law as if it were the 11th Commandment. Its success rate, though, is abysmal.

Only a few species have been removed from the list, some because it was discovered they weren't actually endangered, others because, despite the law's protection, they died off anyway.

Some on the list have recovered -- but not due to the ESA.

Two widely cited examples of the law's supposed "success" are the recoveries of the peregrine falcon and the bald eagle. But the falcon was given another chance because of the efforts of a private organization that bred the bird in captivity. The eagle came back strong primarily because hunting the species was outlawed.

While the ESA has sputtered in its primary duty to protect wildlife, it's done a fine job of choking the habitat of another species: humans. It has done far more to harm property rights than it has to save vulnerable plants and animals.