Huh. Yesterday afternoon, the Interior Department proposed listing 48 Haiwaiian species at once, in a move to protect the entire ecosystem. Dirk Kempthorne said it was a move toward a holistic approach to conservation. “By addressing the common threats that occur across these ecosystems, we can more effectively focus our conservation efforts on restoring the functions of these shared habitats.” Department officials went on to suggest that such an approach could be used in the coming years in other parts of the country.

I’m really trying hard to figure out at what point this plan becomes terrible for everyone but Goldman Sachs. The worst I can do is point to the fact that all the land needed to protect these species is already designated as such, so there will be no further detriment to private landholders in the area. That, more or less, sounds like a win-win. So… there you go. The Interior Department just did something totally sensible. I guess I’ll defer to other news sources to identify ths insanity here, but until then this seems like pretty good news.