Forcing the feds to count the costs of their species regulations

Courting Liberty

PLF Director of Communications Harold Johnson hosts a discussion with PLF Attorney Oliver Dunford and Kirk Wilbur, Director of Government Relations with the California Cattlemen's Association about how Federal officials illegally ignored the economic impacts on small businesses, landowners, agriculture, and local governments last year when they set aside 1.8-million acres in Central and Northern California as “critical habitat” for the Yosemite toad and two yellow-legged frog species in the Sierra Nevada. A lawsuit filed against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service challenges these sweeping habitat designations because the agency did not comply with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). That statute requires comprehensive economic analysis before new federal rules can be imposed that could significantly affect small business and small government entities. PLF filed the challenge on behalf of three statewide organizations with members who are affected by the habitat designations — the California Cattlemen’s Association, California Farm Bureau Federation, and California Wool Growers Association.