Incidental Extinction: How the Endangered Species Act's Incidental Take Permits Fail to Account for Population Loss
Section 9 of the ESA boldly declares that any harm perpetrated upon a listed species, even a single animal, is illegal. Yet, the Incidental Take Permit provision of the ESA expressly allows nonfederal landowners to harm thousands, possibly millions, of listed species every year. Despite this obvious statutory contradiction, the system makes sense—if executed correctly.