America's Biodiversity Needs Smart Laws and Private-Sector Collaboration | Opinion

The passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021, and the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, brought more and more attention toward the real work of rebuilding America for a better, more resilient future. And as people confront the reality of gathering approvals and navigating increased bureaucracy and red tape, they realize that there are very significant, unacceptable delays.

Many of our environmental laws, such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), while adopted with the best of intentions, are outdated, and contributing to the delays, cancellations, and disinvestment in our nation's infrastructure, natural resources, and wildlife diversity. This has been ongoing for traditional infrastructure such as pipelines for years, but with the renewed focus on the energy transition, it's essential we begin seriously talking about these delays and their impacts.

There are many contributing factors—but one of the most significant is ESA's requirements for protecting endangered or threatened species. From the multi-billion-dollar Mountain Valley Pipeline to dozens of renewable energy projects in the West, we have witnessed an increasing number of ventures delayed or abandoned. Furthering the problem, many believe that the federal government is the entity most capable of protecting or maintaining species.

But top-down, ongoing mandates from Washington, D.C., can only go so far and are hindering conservation efforts. Like many other issues in American society, there are significant benefits when the private sector steps up—or when states and localities closest to the problem have the needed resources to make a difference.

So what should we do?

First, Congress should get behind a fiscally responsible version of the Recovering America's Wildlife Act (RAWA). Based on a recommendation from the Blue-Ribbon Panel on Sustaining America's Diverse Fish and Wildlife Resources (composed of outdoor recreation retailers, manufacturers, the energy industry, hunter, angler, and other conservation organizations, and state and federal wildlife agencies), the proposal would provide dedicated and predictable funding for state fish and wildlife agencies to address conservation needs.

By implementing conservation and species protection efforts now, RAWA would help avoid triggering ESA's requirements and offset future costly recovery and mitigation actions. It also has been projected to create up to 33,600 direct jobs every year in industries ranging from construction and forestry to outdoor recreation.

Second, we should recognize the key role of the private sector, which is often better suited to address local conservation needs. The global energy company Ørsted, for instance, which is developing onshore wind and solar projects around the country, has invested in numerous biodiversity initiatives. Among other projects, the company partnered with The Nature Conservancy to preserve almost 1,000 acres of native tallgrass prairie near its Mockingbird Solar Center in Texas and supported conservation and restoration for nearly 3,000 acres of tallgrass prairie near its Sunflower Wind farm in Kansas. It also created a research grant for the Arizona State University Foundation to fund research on the overlap between burrowing owl habitats and areas with high solar project potential.

And Ørsted is not the only energy company working to save the environment. In Virginia, Dominion Energy designed a Wildlife Exclusion System to help minimize bat mortality near the Warren County Power Station and constructed an upstream eel passage facility above the Roanoke Rapids and Gaston Dams. In Missouri, Marathon Petroleum is partnering with the Department of Conservation and Quail Forever to restore sections of a pipeline with native vegetation including pollinator-friendly wildflowers, which will benefit at-risk species like the monarch butterfly and native bee species.

In addition, we should support innovative nonprofits such as LandCAN, which is the only online national platform that provides comprehensive resources to landowners interested in better managing their land for conservation purposes. After all, about 70 percent of the continental U.S. (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) is privately owned. LandCAN offers critical resources to these private landowners, including informative articles and a searchable directory of conservation programs and professionals who can support local and regional conservation projects.

There's no question that the federal government plays an important role in making sure that we protect endangered and threatened species. But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the federal government isn't the only player—and probably not even the most important.

With the proper resources, states and localities—who, after all, are the ones closest to the threatened species—can make a tremendous impact. And the private sector— businesses and landowners—have also been stepping up to meet the moment. We need to recognize and build on these principles or else we run the risk of not meeting any of the energy transition goals that so many Americans hope to accomplish.

Jeffrey Kupfer is a former acting deputy secretary of the Department of Energy, an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School, and the president of ConservAmerica.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.