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Fearful Asymmetry: How The Absence Of Public Participation In Section 7 Of The Esa Can Make The 'Best Available Science' Unavailable For Judicial Review, Travis Brandon

Law Faculty Scholarship

Recent empirical studies have shown that public participation is an essential part of the listing process of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) because it provides the wildlife agencies with valuable scientific information regarding candidate species and forces agencies to make politically unpopular decisions to protect species standing in the way of development interests. However, the crucial agency-forcing mechanism of public participation is lacking in the interagency consultation process in section 7 of the ESA, one of the most important provisions by which the ESA’s protections for listed species are enforced. This Article explains how the absence of public input through …