|
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Paul Hughes, executive director (415) 974-4201
Marc Lecard, communications manager (415) 974-4202
Sept.
30, 2005
Pombo
tears up the Endangered Species Act
California congressman attacks protections for wildlife
Rep. Richard Pombo is trying to make it easier for species to become
extinct.
Pombo (R-Tracy) introduced H.R. 3824, his rewrite of the Endangered
Species Act (ESA) on Sept. 19. Forests Forever is strongly opposed
to the measure.
The bill moved quickly through the House Resources Committee–
which Pombo heads– and passed the floor of the House on Sept.
29 by a 229 to 193 vote. The bill moves now to the Senate, where
it is expected to meet with opposition.
With a title couched in the now-familiar doublespeak of Republican
environmental bills, Pombo’s Threatened and Endangered Species
Recovery Act of 2005 would in fact put threatened and endangered
species in jeopardy and make species recovery almost impossible.
The ESA was enacted in 1973. It provides for the protection of wild
animals, fish and plants faced with extinction, requiring that diminished
populations be restored and habitat essential to a species be preserved.
It has helped bring back the bald eagle, grizzly bear, gray wolf,
and many other beloved and ecologically valuable plants and animals.
Pombo has been a long-standing and determined foe of the ESA. His
bill would fatally weaken recovery efforts. Crucially, the bill
would eliminate consideration of critical habitat, and make any
habitat preservation non-binding.
“Wild lands and wildlife go together,” Forests Forever
executive director Paul Hughes said. “Without protection of
critical habitat, it will be impossible for some endangered species
to recover.”
Forest advocates have relied on the ESA as one of their most effective
tools. To save listed species such as the old-growth-forest-dependent
marbled murrelet or the northern spotted owl, their forest habitat
must be preserved as well.
Pombo’s bill strips out the ESA’s requirement that recovery
plans be developed for “conservation and survival of endangered
species and threatened species.” By stacking its proposed
“recovery teams” with industry representatives, the
bill would exalt economic considerations above science.
Further, the bill takes the power to define “the best science”
away from the scientific community and places it into the hands
of the Secretary of Interior, a political appointee.
Under Pombo’s bill, federal agencies would have only 90 days
to object to development projects that might harm endangered or
threatened species. If no objections are filed in that period, according
to the proposed legislation, projects may proceed without review.
Federal agencies charged with enforcing the act would also be hit
hard financially by a
“takings” clause that would require the agencies to
reimburse landowners for obeying the law.
The bill is favored by real-estate developers, extreme property-rights
groups, and extractive industries like oil and timber, all of which
can realize greater profits if they no longer have to take endangered
plants and animals into account.
Forests Forever is a nonprofit group in San Francisco dedicated
to the protection of California’s forests.
–
30 –
|