Peyton Knight Rare Quotations

If the government takes a person's land to build a highway, the property owner is compensated. If the government takes the use of a person's land to protect a rare species, however, the property owner is not compensated. This inequity must be addressed.

While the Endangered Species Act has failed miserably at saving rare plants and animals, it has excelled in making life miserable for many in the human population.

ESA-related costs are paid in an inequitable way. Although Congress determined in 1973 that the preservation of endangered species was in the interest of the U.S. as a whole, Congress did not arrange for the nation as a whole to bear the costs of recovery. Instead, these costs are largely borne by the private landowners on whose property rare species are found, regardless of the ability of any particular landowner to bear these costs.