1:22
Kevin Lilly
43:46 - 45:09
"when all the science has culminated to come up with an answer, and yet it can be whisked away through judicial review, that does not work toward the benefit, I think, of either the species or the American people. The only thing that it benefits are legal fees and the perpetual litigious nature that the ESA has become. So, to answer your question directly, ma'am, working toward ESA reform is a benefit to all, and I believe it is a bipartisan reality to deregulate, to protect our environment, to protect our species, no question, but also to be reasonable and not use it as a burden upon American industry, upon private landowners, upon tribal communities, and upon stakeholders."
“when all the science has culminated to come up with an answer, and yet it can be whisked away through judicial review, that does not work toward the benefit, I think, of either the species or the American people. The only thing that it benefits are legal fees and the perpetual litigious nature that the ESA has become. So, to answer your question directly, ma'am, working toward ESA reform is a benefit to all, and I believe it is a bipartisan reality to deregulate, to protect our environment, to protect our species, no question, but also to be reasonable and not use it as a burden upon American industry, upon private landowners, upon tribal communities, and upon stakeholders.”
- Speaker
- Kevin Lilly
- Timestamp
- 43:46 – 45:09
- Community
- Alaska News
- Captured at
- June 24, 2026
From the transcript
It should be something that we continue to work toward rather than something to battle against. And it seems that in some sort of a perverse sense that while we receive— when we have successes, we are immediately sued. That there are those that while we go through reasonable science, tremendous hours of biologists, of scientists, population managers, attorneys, the public input, when all the science has culminated to come up with an answer, and yet it can be whisked away through judicial review, that does not work toward the benefit, I think, of either the species or the American people. The only thing that it benefits are legal fees and the perpetual litigious nature that the ESA has become. So, to answer your question directly, ma'am, working toward ESA reform is a benefit to all, and I believe it is a bipartisan reality to deregulate, to protect our environment, to protect our species, no question, but also to be reasonable and not use it as a burden upon American industry, upon private landowners, upon tribal communities, and upon stakeholders.
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