HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE GUTS ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT  

Party Line Vote Will Result in Hundreds of Extinctions

Moderate Republicans Rebuffed

 

September 29, 2005

 

In a 229 to 193 vote, falling largely along party lines, the U.S. House

of Representative passed a bill today undermining the U.S. Endangered

Species Act. 34 Republicans voted against the bill, 36 Democrats voted

for it.

 

The Endangered Species Act protects 1,300 of America's most endangered

plants and animals. Originally created in 1973, it has a saved over 99%

of these species from extinction including the Bald Eagle, Grizzly Bear,

Gray Wolf, Sea Otter, and Grizzly Bear. It has also lived up to its

mission to "protect the ecosystems upon which endangered species depend"

by preserving over 200 million acres of essential wildlife habitat from

Hawaii to Maine.

 

Cynically entitled the "Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act

of 2005" by it author, Richard Pombo (R-CA), the bill systematically

removes every proven recovery tool from the Endangered Species Act.

 

"This bill takes a wrecking ball to our nation's most important wildlife

protection law," said Kieran Suckling, policy director of the Center for

Biological Diversity. "The Endangered Species Act is the safety net for

America's imperiled plants and animals. The Republican dominated House

of Representatives have ripped it apart, consigning God's creation to

extinction."

 

 

  A valiant effort to save the Endangered Species Act was fought by both

Democrats and Republicans. The Center for Biological Diversity

especially thanks: Jim Saxton (R-NJ),Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), Sherwood

Boehlert (R-NY), George Miller (D-CA), Nick Rahall (D-WV), Tom Udall,

(D-NM), Jay Inslee (D-WA), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Raul Grijalva (D-AZ).

     

Summary of the Bill

     

- Undermines Species Recovery. Richard Pombo (R-CA) garnered involvement

by some environmental groups and Democrats by promising to strengthen

protection and recovery standards. At each step in the process of

finalizing the bill, however, he reduced protections. The day of the

final vote, he pushed through an amendment to completely eliminate the

nominal protections he had offered in earlier versions.

     

"Pombo played a cynical game of bait-and-switch," said Suckling. "He

brought people in with false promises, announced the support of

environmental groups to the nation, and then systematically stripped

every protection clause from his bill."

- Eliminates Habitat Protection. It eliminates all existing and future

critical habitat protections—over 200 million acres of habitat

protections for species such as the Northern spotted owl, Right whale,

Peninsular big horn sheep, Steller sea lion, and desert tortoise.

Critical habitat is one of the most successful provisions of the

Endangered Species Act: species with critical habitat are recovering

twice as fast as species without it.

 

   "Habitat destruction is the main cause of extinction," said Suckling.

"This bill sends conservation back to the stone age. It eliminates the

most important, most scientifically-based, most successful approach to

protecting ecosystems."

 

   - Exempts Pesticides from Environmental Review. In a stunning blow to

America's system of checks and balances, the bill exempts the production

and spraying of pesticides from review under the Endangered Species Act.

 

   "At a time when deformed frogs are being found in lakes and rivers

across the nation, it is a dangerous travesty to exempt pesticides from

environmental review," said Suckling.

 

   - Politicizes Science. The bill replaces the Endangered Species Act

focus on using only the "best available science" and relying on

scientists to define what is best, with a completely political system:

it allows the Secretary of Interior, a political appointee, to define

what science should and should not be used.

 

   - Diverts the Nation's Environmental Budget to Corporations.  Pombo's

bill takes the Fish and Wildlife Service's budget hostage by allowing

corporations to reap hundreds of millions of dollars by simply asserting

that they have been harmed by endangered species protections. The

Department of Interior will then have to pay the corporations for their

speculative "foregone" profits out of the budget established for

America's national parks, wildlife refuges, and endangered species.

 

   "The takings provision of the bill is litigation magnet," said Suckling,

"even the White House budget office concluded that it will dramatically

increase corporate lawsuits against the Department of Interior at an

enormous cost to the American tax payer."

 

 

Call House members TODAY to oppose HR 3824 - the "Extinction Bill" will be voted on TOMORROW (Thursday)

 

September 28, 2005

 

H.R. 3824 “the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005” will be voted on tomorrow, Thursday September 29, in the full House of Representatives. So PLEASE call your House representatives today we are asking folks to call their asking them to oppose.

 

You can find your House representative’s name and contact info by typing in your ZIP code at www.congress.org. Just click “ignore this Ad”.

 

See below for bill analysis and talking points from the Endangered Species Coalition

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

*PHONE CALLS NEEDED TO HOUSE MEMBERS TO STOP ESA ROLLBACKS.

*TALKING POINTS, BACKGROUND ON THE BILL & CONGRESS CONTACT INFORMATION BELOW.

 

We need your help to stop this bill.  We cannot allow action to weaken the Endangered Species Act to happen on our watch.  The Endangered Species Act is the primary safety net that protects wildlife, fish and plants on the brink of extinction.  Rep. Pombo’s bill would cut large holes in this safety net.

 

A FACTSHEET on a draft bill from Rep. Pombo that was leaked to conservationists back in June can be found here <http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M710946268744618518717965> .  We don’t know what next week’s bill would look like; it may have changed since June.

 

It is critical that Members of Congress stand up for our natural heritage and oppose his scheme to repeal the protections that the Endangered Species Act provides.  Please call your Member of Congress and urge them to oppose this and any bill that would weaken the Endangered Species Act.

 

Thank you for your work to protect endangered species and habitat.

 

Sincerely,

The staff of the Endangered Species Coalition <http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M710946358744618518717965>

 <http://www.stopextinction.org/> 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

ACTION: 

Please call your Member of Congress and ask them to oppose Representative Pombo’s bill that would weaken the protections of the Endangered Species Act.

 

It is especially important that members of the Resources Committee hear from constituents if you live in their district.  Those members are listed below.

 

Capitol Switchboard:  (202) 224-3121

Ask for your Member of Congress’s office.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Talking points

*     I am calling to ask you to support for the Endangered Species Act and oppose any bill that would weaken protections for endangered species and habitat.  

*     Next week, Representative Richard Pombo plans to introduce legislation that could aggressively strip the Endangered Species Act of its strongest protections.  Representative Pombo is controversial and out of step with the American public’s support of the Endangered Species Act.

*     For over thirty years, the Endangered Species Act has been a safety net for wildlife, fish and plants on the brink of extinction.  It has been successful in preventing the extinction of the American Bald Eagle, the gray wolf, the pacific salmon, (or other local species) as well as many other species.  

*     The Endangered Species Act stands for fundamental principles that we all believe in and cannot allow to be weakened or removed.  In fact, 86% of Americans support the Endangered Species Act.  

*     Please support the Endangered Species Act and oppose any bill that would weaken protections for endangered species and habitat.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BACKGROUND:

Representative Pombo’s Extinction bill would gut the Endangered Species Act on behalf of developers, oil companies, timber companies, mining companies and extreme property rights groups.

We have not yet seen the full legislative language, but have seen a summary of the major points.  According to reports, the bill would:

* change the definition of conservation, to abandon the nation’s commitment to recovering species on the brink of extinction

*  redefine the definition of endangered species so that the species must be endangered throughout its entire range.  (If this provision was law when the ESA was first enacted, it would have been impossible to list the bald eagle, the grizzly bear, the gray wolf and many other species who are endangered in the lower 48, but not endangered in Alaska or Canada.)

*  weaken protections for species listed as “threatened” under the law

*  weaken habitat protection, by requiring only occupied, and not unoccupied, habitat be protected

*  exempt federal agencies from the requirement to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on actions that might impact endangered species

*  require the federal government to pay landowners for the cost of complying with the law, under an onerous “takings” provision

*  expire the Endangered Species Act in the year 2015

While the provisions of the bill may change by the time it is introduced, the draft shows that the real purpose of this bill is to weaken the provisions of the Endangered Species Act.

The Endangered Species Act is a safety net that protects wildlife, fish and plants on the brink of extinction.  It has been enormously successful in preventing the extinction of hundreds of species, including bald eagles, gray wolves and Pacific salmon. We must not diminish protections for these magnificent animals, or for the places they call home.

For more information, click here <http://www.stopextinction.org/Pombo_bill_factsheet> .

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STOP REP. POMBO'S EXTINCTION BILL!

September 26, 2005

Forwarded alert from Endangered Species Coalition – for more information see www.stopextinction.org or www.biologicaldiversity.org .

**See also Natural Resources Defense Council Fact Sheet on the (mis)treatment of Science in Representative Pombo's “Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act” (H.R. 3824)   – appended at the end of this alert

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

STOP REP. POMBO'S EXTINCTION BILL!

September 26, 2005

On Monday, Representative Pombo introduced his deceptively named "Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act."  Representative Pombo's bill would gut the Endangered Species Act on behalf of greedy developers, oil companies, timber companies, mining companies and extreme property rights groups.

ACTION: 

Please call your Member of Congress and ask them to oppose Representative Pombo's bill (H.R. 3824) that would weaken the protections of the Endangered Species Act.

It is especially important that members of the Resources Committee hear from constituents today!  Those members are listed below.

Talking Points for communicating with your representatives are also provided below.

Capitol Switchboard:  (202) 224-3121

Ask for your Member of Congress's office.

You can look up your Representative at:  www.house.gov (http://www.house.gov/) You can look up your Senators at:  www.senate.gov (http://www.senate.gov/)

Congress will consider the bill this week! 

The House Resources Committee has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday, September 21st and a vote in the full committee on Thursday, September 22nd.  The bill could be up for a vote by all Representatives on the House floor as soon as next week!

It is critical that Members of Congress stand up for our natural heritage and the Endangered Species Act.  Please call your Member of Congress and urge them to oppose Representative Pombo's Extinction bill!

Thank you for your work to protect endangered species and habitat.

Sincerely,

The staff of the  Endangered Species Coalition

http://www.stopextinction.org/  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Key House Targets:

It is especially important that these members of the Resources Committee hear from constituents.

 

HOUSE RESOURCES COMMITTEE

*     Richard W. Pombo (http://www.house.gov/pombo)  , California,Chairman

*     Nick J. Rahall II (http://www.house.gov/rahall)  , West Virginia, Ranking Democrat Member

*     Don Young (http://www.house.gov/donyoung/)  , Alaska                                   

*     George Miller (http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/)  , California

*     Jim Saxton , (http://www.house.gov/saxton/)  New Jersey                            

*     Ed Markey (http://www.house.gov/markey/)  , Massachusetts

*     Elton Gallegly (http://www.house.gov/gallegly/)  , California                          

*     Dale E. Kildee (http://www.house.gov/kildee/)  , Michigan

*     John J. Duncan, Jr. (http://www.house.gov/duncan/)  , Tennessee                  

*     Peter DeFazio (http://www.house.gov/defazio/)  , Oregon

*     Wayne T. Gilchrest (http://gilchrest.house.gov/)  ,  Maryland                               

*     Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (http://www.house.gov/faleomavaega/)  , American Samoa

*     Ken Calvert (http://www.house.gov/calvert/)  , California                            

*     Neil Abercrombie (http://www.house.gov/abercrombie/)  , Hawaii

*     Barbara Cubin (http://www.house.gov/cubin/)  , Wyoming                          

*     Solomon P. Ortiz (http://www.house.gov/ortiz/)  , Texas

*     George P. Radanovich (http://www.radanovich.house.gov/)  , California               

*     Frank Pallone, Jr . (http://www.house.gov/pallone/) , New Jersey

*     Walter B. Jones, Jr. (http://jones.house.gov/)  , North Carolina            

*     Donna M. Christensen (http://www.house.gov/christian-christensen/)  , Virgin Islands

*     Chris Cannon (http://chriscannon.house.gov/)  , Utah                                

*     Ron Kind (http://www.house.gov/kind/)  , Wisconsin

*     John E. Peterson (http://www.house.gov/johnpeterson/)  , Pennsylvania                

*     Jay Inslee (http://www.house.gov/inslee/)  , Washington

*     Jim Gibbons (http://www.house.gov/gibbons/)  , Nevada                                

*     Grace F. Napolitano (http://www.napolitano.house.gov/)  , California

*     Greg Walden (http://www.house.gov/walden/)  , Oregon                              

*     Tom Udall (http://www.tomudall.house.gov/display2.cfm?id=4887&type=Home)  , New Mexico

*     Thomas G. Tancredo (http://www.house.gov/tancredo/)  , Colorado                 

*     Mark Udall (http://markudall.house.gov/HoR/CO02/Home.htm)  , Colorado

*     J.D. Hayworth (http://www.house.gov/hayworth/)  , Arizona                           

*     Raúl M. Grijalva (http://www.house.gov/grijalva/)  , Arizona

*     Jeff Flake (http://www.house.gov/flake/)  , Arizona                                  

*     Dennis Cardoza (http://www.house.gov/cardoza/)  , California

*     Rick Renzi (http://www.house.gov/renzi/)  , Arizona                                 

*     Madeleine Z. Bordallo (http://www.house.gov/bordallo/)  , Guam

*     Stevan Pearce , (http://www.house.gov/pearce/)  New Mexico                      

*     Jim Costa (http://www.house.gov/costa/)  , California

*     Henry Brown (http://wwwc.house.gov/henrybrown/content.aspx?flash=y)  , South Carolina                     

*     Charlie Melancon (http://www.house.gov/melancon/), Louisiana

*     Thelma Drake (http://drake.house.gov/)  , Virginia                            

*     Dan Boren (http://www.house.gov/boren/)  , Oklahoma

*     Luis Fortuno (http://www.house.gov/fortuno/)  , Puerto Rico                         

*     Stephanie Herseth (http://www.house.gov/herseth/)  , South Dakota

*     Cathy McMorris (http://www.mcmorris.house.gov/)  , Washington

*     Bobby Jindal (http://www.house.gov/jindal/)  , Louisiana

*     Louie Gohmert (http://www.house.gov/gohmert/)  , Texas

*     Marilyn Musgrave (http://wwwc.house.gov/musgrave/)  , Colorado     

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Talking points

      * I am calling to ask you to support for the Endangered Species Act and urge you to oppose Representative Pombo's Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act (H.R. 3824) because it would weaken protections for endangered species and habitat.

      * Representative Richard Pombo's bill aggressively strips the Endangered Species Act of its strongest protections.  Representative Pombo and his bill are controversial and out of step with the American public's support of the Endangered Species Act.

      * For over thirty years, the Endangered Species Act has been a safety net for wildlife, fish and plants on the brink of extinction.  It has been successful in preventing the extinction of the American Bald Eagle, the gray wolf, the pacific salmon, (or other local species) as well as many other species.

      * The Endangered Species Act stands for fundamental principles that we all believe in and cannot allow to be weakened or removed.  In fact, 86% of Americans support the Endangered Species Act.

      * Greedy developers and the politicians they give money to are attempting to weaken America's safety net for endangered species.  We have a responsibility to prevent the extinction of fish, plants and wildlife because once they are gone we cannot bring them back.

      * Please support the Endangered Species Act and oppose any bill that would weaken protections for endangered species and habitat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BACKGROUND:

Representative Pombo's Extinction bill would gut the Endangered Species Act on behalf of greedy developers, oil companies, timber companies, mining companies and extreme property rights groups.

- Eliminates critical habitat: Species with designated critical habitat are recovering twice as fast as species without it. Pombo's bill completely eliminates critical habitat. Critical habitat is one of the most important and successful tools in the conservation toolbox if we don't protect the places species call home, they will never recover.

- Politicizes scientific decisions: The Endangered Species Act requires that all decisions be made on basis of the best available scientific information-what constitutes the best science is left up to the scientific community. Pombo's bill allows a political appointee, the Secretary of Interior, to define the best science and to unilaterally overturn, with no public or scientific review, any decision she deems to not fit her definition. Science should be determined by scientists, not political appointees.

- Eliminates independent oversight: The Endangered Species Act requires that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and/or NOAA Fisheries independently review federal actions which may harm endangered species. Pombo's bill allows the Secretary of Interior, a political appointee, to exempt individual projects or entire classes of projects from independent oversight.  Rep.Pombo's bill takes unbiased, professional wildlife and fisheries experts out of the equation.

- Weakens recovery efforts: The Endangered Species Act requires that federal recovery plans be implemented by federal agencies, and that species be protected until they are fully recovered. Pombo's bill allows federal agencies to ignore recovery plans, and requires that species be delisted within individual states even though the species as whole is tumbling toward extinction. Rep. Pombo's bill will fragment recovery efforts, throwing the Endangered Species Act's holistic approach out the window.

- Allows projects that harm species: The Endangered Species Act is a "look before you leap" law. It requires that all actions which may push species toward extinction be reviewed before they are implemented. Pombo's bill reverses the order. It requires that destructive projects go forward with no review unless federal agencies object within 90-days.

- Bankrupts the Endangered Species Act by requiring the federal government to pay landowners to not violate the law. This not only would have a tremendous negative impact on the federal budget, it would set a precedent to require the government to pay developers for any profits lost to environmental protections, and it would reward developers who plan the maximum and most potentially profitable projects for the most ecologically important habitat. In short, it begs developers to plan projects that allow them to extort payment from the government.  The conservation community supports reasonable incentives for landowners who take proactive actions that significantly contribute to the recovery of endangered and threatened species.

The Endangered Species Act is a safety net that protects wildlife, fish and plants on the brink of extinction.  It has been enormously successful in preventing the extinction of hundreds of species, including bald eagles, gray wolves and Pacific salmon. We must not diminish protections for these magnificent animals, or for the places they call home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Natural Resources Defense Council Fact Sheet

Science and the Endangered Species Act:

HR 3824 undermines the use of best available scientific and commercial data

The Endangered Species Act currently requires use of the “best available scientific and commercial data.”  Representative Pombo’s Bill, H.R. 3824, proposes to change this policy by favoring certain types of scientific data over others and by providing political appointees with the discretion to decide which data are “most relevant.” Among other things, the bill:

Restricts the use of ‘best available science’ to that which is ‘most accurate, reliable and relevant.’  Current regulations define “best available science” to be all relevant scientific information.  The Bill also requires the Secretary of the Interior, a political appointee, to issue regulations defining what “best available science” means.  These changes would allow for bias, interpretation and the possible exclusion of certain types of data.   Scientists, not political appointees should determine what constitutes the best available science.

Eliminates the use of ‘commercial data’ from the definition of “best available science,” thereby potentially excluding important sources of information. For example, commercial data such as fisheries landings could be excluded by NMFS when making listing and other decisions under the Endangered Species Act.

Codifies a preference for empirical data over modeling data.  A central component of endangered species biology is the use of scientific models to estimate and predict the abundance and long term dynamics of rare and sensitive species.  H.R. 3824, however, allows the Secretary to reconsider any decisions based on modeling data that is contradicted by subsequent “empirical” data. Examples of techniques that could be overridden include:

a.    indirect estimates of population sizes for elusive organisms1, 2, 3

b. assessment of survival/extinction probability obtained through population viability analysis4, 5

c. habitat relationship models to identify critical habitat for endangered or threatened species6

While each of these techniques has a basis in empirical field studies, much of the data are derived from theoretical models and therefore could be given reduced consideration under HR 3824, despite the fact that they may constitute the best science available. This predictive power of models is essential to conservation biology and should not be accorded less value than empirical data.

____________________________________________________________________

1 Van Sickle, W.D. and F.G. Lindzey. 1992. Evaluation of road track surveys for cougars (Felis concolor). Great Basin Naturalist 52:232-236.

2 Mowat, G. and C. Strobeck. 2000.  Estimating population size of grizzly bears using hair capture, DNA profiling, and mark-recapture analysis.  Journal of Wildlife Management 64: 183-193.

3 Murray, D. L., J. D. Roth, E. Ellsworth, A. J. Wirsing, and T. D. Steury.  2002.  Estimating low-density snowshoe hare populations using fecal pellet counts.  Canadian Journal of Zoology 80: 771-781.

4 Soule, M. 1987.  Viable populations for conservation.  Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, England.

5 Akçakaya H.R. and P. Sjögren-Gulve. 2000. Population viability analysis in conservation planning: an overview. Ecological Bulletins 48:9-21.

6 Verner, J., Morrison, M. L. and Ralph, C. J. (eds) 1986. Wildlife 2000: Modeling Habitat Relationships of Terrestrial Vertebrates.  University of Wisconsin Press. Madison, WI.

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Help save the Endangered Species Act - Congress votes Thursday

 

September 22, 2005

 

First vote will be this Thursday morning

 

If you contact your member of Congress over just one issue this year,

please make it the survival of the Endangered Species Act. 

 

Dozens of animals and plants that would have gone extinct have been

saved by the Endangered Species Act since it was signed into law by

President Richard M. Nixon on December 28, 1973.

 

Many more are on the brink, along with the special places they call

home.  Your phone call can make the difference for well-known animals

such as the grizzly bear, polar bear, orca (aka killer whale), Mexican

gray wolf, Mexican spotted owl, and California condor. 

 

It can also mean the difference between life and death for hundreds of

obscure creatures struggling to survive, such as the Chiricahua leopard

frog that lives in streams in the desert, the spectacled eider that

nests on the Arctic coast, and the coral in the Carribean along with the

many fish that thrive in the architecture of coral reefs.

 

The House Resources Committee will vote this Thursday, September 22, on

a bill introduced by the committee chairman, Richard Pombo (R-CA), that

would tear gaping holes in the safety net that is the Endangered Species

Act in order to expedite development of the last natural habitats for

wildlife in the United States.  Details are described below.  The bill

will first be voted on in the House Resources Committee, then if it

passes will go to the full House of Representatives, and if it passes

there a similar process will be underway in the Senate.

 

Imperiled animals and plants need your help to stop this bill.  Please

call your Representative in Congress first thing Tuesday morning and ask

them to oppose Representative Pombo's extinction bill, H.R. 3824, that

would eliminate key protections of the Endangered Species Act.

 

It is especially important that members of the House Resources Committee

hear from people who live in their districts. You can look up those

members at:

http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/fullcommittee/members.htm

<BLOCKED::http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/fullcommittee/members.htm>

.

 

To learn who your Representative is and his or her direct phone number,

go to:  http://www.house.gov/writerep/ <http://www.house.gov/writerep/>

. 

The congressional switchboard number is 202-224-3121.

 

Please make these calls even if your Representative is known to be

hostile to conservation.  We may be able to swing some votes from

members of Congress nervous about their re-election.

 

Highlights of Rep. Pombo's Wildlife Extinction Bill

 

Eliminates Independent Federal Oversight.  The Endangered Species Act

requires that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or Fisheries Service

biologists review all federal actions that may harm endangered species.

The review is done only on the basis of the best available science. It

is conducted by scientists who are completely independent of the federal

agency proposing the harmful action.

 

The Pombo bill allows the exemption of individual projects and entire

categories of actions from independent review and instead substitutes

undefined "alternate procedures.”  As Pombo and the Bush administration

have consistently pushed to shield federal agency actions from

environmental review by the Fish and Wildlife Service, it is clear that

the "alternate procedures" will eliminate independent oversight over a

vast array of habitat destruction projects.

 

Eliminates Critical Habitat.  The Endangered Species Act requires the

designation of mapped-out “critical habitat” areas for all threatened

and endangered species. Critical habitat is the only portion of the Act

which directly protects ecosystems in themselves, regardless of whether

an endangered species currently reside there -- because it may need to

reclaim that habitat in order to recover. Critical habitat is the only

portion of the Act which expressly establishes a recovery management

standard. It works:  Species with critical habitat are twice as likely

to be recovering as species without it.

 

Pombo’s bill completely eliminates critical habitat from the Endangered

Species Act. .

 

Makes Recovery Plans Optional.  Recovery plans constitute road maps for

specific actions that will lead to a species' resurgence and eventual

removal from the threatened and endangered species list.  The Endangered

Species Act requires development of recovery plans. 

 

Pombo's bill would allow the federal government to choose which

creatures get a recovery plan and which do not

 

Destructive Projects Proceed by Default.  The Endangered Species Act

currently requires that a destructive project can not proceed until it

is reviewed and approved by government scientists. The review can not

take place unless the agency or corporation proposing the project

provides detailed information about the project and its likely effects.

 

Pombo’s bill turns this precautionary process on its head by specifying

that destructive projects are allowed to proceed unless government

scientists intercede to stop it. The scientists will have little

information to make such an intercession, because the Pombo bill allows

agencies to simply provide the “nature, the specific location, and the

anticipated schedule and duration of the proposed action.” This is not

enough information to support a scientific review.

 

Eliminates and Politicizes Science.  The Endangered Species Act

currently requires that all decisions be made on the basis of “the best

available scientific information.” Wisely, the Act does not define “best

available” because scientific technology, knowledge, and methods

constantly change. The Act leaves it up to the scientific community to

determine the best science available. Pombo’s bill requires a

politically appointee, the Secretary of Interior, to issue regulations

predetermining the definition of best science.

 

The Pombo bill also codifies a Bush Administration policy that has been

widely condemned by scientists and rejected by courts. The policy, and

the bill, prohibit the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Fisheries

Service from updating conservation plans for private lands that recieve

government funding or permits to destroy habitat, even if those plans

are not working as intended -- unless the private land owner holding the

permit agrees. Thus new scientific information and the results of

biological monitoring no would longer require updating of conservation

plans.

 

Eliminates Species Protections and Up-To-Date Science.  As currently

written, the Endangered Species Act provides full protection to each new

animal or plant added to the endangered species list.  Pombo’s bill

allows the Fish and Wildlife Service and Fisheries Service to sign an

agreement with individual states prior to a species being listed, which

would prohibit new protections for that creature.  If a species were to

be listed despite the presence of such an agreement, it would indicate

that the agreement was necessarily insufficient to protect it. But such

an agreement would have the force of law even though scientists had

already determined that it allowed the animal or plant to proceed toward

endangerment.

 

Slows Species Protections.  The Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a

nationwide policy protecting threatened species from unregulated take

(i.e. killing, harming or harassing). Pombo’s bill prohibits this

efficient national approach, requiring the agency to issue separate

regulations for each threatened species.

 

Prevents and Bureaucratizes the Listing of Endangered Species.  The

Endangered Species Act currently allows the listing of species,

subspecies, and “distinct population segments.”  Pombo’s bill makes it

harder to list populations by requiring that it be done “sparingly” --

thus allowing different populations of a species to slip away one by one

instead of taking action early.

 

The Endangered Species Act requires that decisions to place species on

the endangered list be done solely on the basis of the best available

scientific information. In 2003, the Government Accountability Office

issued a report (at the request of Congressman Pombo) which found that

Fish and Wildlife Service listing decisions are scientifically sound.

Pombo’s bill would bureaucratize a system that is already working fine

by making petitioners supply the agency with documents it already

possesses and making the agency post all those documents on a website.

While this will not affect listing decisions, it dramatically increases

burdensome, unnecessary paperwork tasks for scientists in government,

academia and the conservation community

 

Bankrupts the Endangered Species Act with an Expansive "Taking"

Provision.  Pombo’s bill requires the federal government to pay private

landowners for the loss of commercial value when an action (logging,

development, etc) is prohibited by the protections of the Endangered

Species Act. Pombo has hidden this provision under the misleading rubric

of "conservation aid.”  The bill specifies that "The amount of the Aid

is to be no less than the fair market value of the forgone use of the

affected portion of the property" -- meaning that the federal government

would have to pay for profits that developers hoped to gain by

developing that portion of the land, including any profits lost due to

mitigations asked of the landowner, such as retaining riparian corridors

or protecting a small part of the land.

 

Not only would this provision deplete the federal budget, it would set a

precedent to require the government to pay industry for any profits lost

to environmental protections, and would reward developers who plan the

maximum and most potentially profitable projects for the most

ecologically important habitats. In short, it begs developers to plan

projects that allow them to extort payment from the government.

 

Please call your Representative in Congress first thing Tuesday morning!

202-224-3121.  See the Websites listed above for additional contact

information for your member of Congress.

 

---

 

 

:RESOURCES COMMITTEE MAY VOTE ON ESA BILL AS SOON AS NEXT WEEK!

 

September 17, 2005

 

Forwarded alert from the Endangered Species Coalition -

 

*PHONE CALLS NEEDED TO HOUSE MEMBERS TO STOP ESA ROLLBACKS.

 

*TALKING POINTS, BACKGROUND ON THE BILL & CONGRESS CONTACT INFORMATION

BELOW.

 

Congress will likely consider a bill that would weaken the Endangered

Species Act as early as next week.  House Resources Committee Richard

Pombo has scheduled a hearing on his bill Tuesday, September 20th and a

vote in the full committee on Thursday, September 22nd.

 

We need your help to stop this bill.  We cannot allow action to weaken

the Endangered Species Act to happen on our watch.  The Endangered

Species Act is the primary safety net that protects wildlife, fish and

plants on the brink of extinction.  Rep. Pombo’s bill would cut large

holes in this safety net.

 

A FACTSHEET on a draft bill from Rep. Pombo that was leaked to

conservationists back in June can be found here

<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M710946268744618518717965> .  We don’t

know what next week’s bill would look like; it may have changed since

June.

 

It is critical that Members of Congress stand up for our natural

heritage and oppose his scheme to repeal the protections that the

Endangered Species Act provides.  Please call your Member of Congress

and urge them to oppose this and any bill that would weaken the

Endangered Species Act.

 

Thank you for your work to protect endangered species and habitat.

 

Sincerely,

 

The staff of the Endangered Species Coalition

<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M710946358744618518717965>

 

<http://www.stopextinction.org/> 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

ACTION: 

 

Please call your Member of Congress and ask them to oppose

Representative Pombo’s bill that would weaken the protections of the

Endangered Species Act.

 

It is especially important that members of the Resources Committee hear

from constituents if you live in their district.  Those members are

listed below.

 

Capitol Switchboard:  (202) 224-3121

 

Ask for your Member of Congress’s office.

 

You can look up your Representative at: www.house.gov

<http://www.house.gov/>

 

You can look up your Senators at: www.senate.gov

<http://www.senate.gov/>

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It is especially important that these members of the Resources Committee

hear from constituents.

 

HOUSE RESOURCES COMMITTEE

 

• Richard W. Pombo <http://www.house.gov/pombo> , California,Chairman

• Nick J. Rahall II <http://www.house.gov/rahall> , West Virginia, Ranking Democrat Member

• Don Young <http://www.house.gov/donyoung/> , Alaska

• George Miller <http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/> , California

• Jim Saxton, <http://www.house.gov/saxton/>  New Jersey

• Ed Markey <http://www.house.gov/markey/> , Massachusetts

• Elton Gallegly <http://www.house.gov/gallegly/> , California

• Dale E. Kildee <http://www.house.gov/kildee/> , Michigan

• John J. Duncan, Jr. <http://www.house.gov/duncan/> , Tennessee

• Peter DeFazio <http://www.house.gov/defazio/> , Oregon

• Wayne T. Gilchrest <http://gilchrest.house.gov/> , Maryland

• Eni F.H. Faleomavaega <http://www.house.gov/faleomavaega/> , American Samoa

• Ken Calvert <http://www.house.gov/calvert/> , California

• Neil Abercrombie <http://www.house.gov/abercrombie/> , Hawaii

• Barbara Cubin <http://www.house.gov/cubin/> , Wyoming

• Solomon P. Ortiz <http://www.house.gov/ortiz/> , Texas

• George P. Radanovich <http://www.radanovich.house.gov/> , California

• Frank Pallone, Jr. <http://www.house.gov/pallone/> , New Jersey

• Walter B. Jones, Jr. <http://jones.house.gov/> , North Carolina Donna M.

• Christensen <http://www.house.gov/christian-christensen/> , Virginislands

• Chris Cannon <http://chriscannon.house.gov/> , Utah

• Ron Kind <http://www.house.gov/kind/> , Wisconsin

• John E. Peterson <http://www.house.gov/johnpeterson/> , Pennsylvania

• Jay Inslee <http://www.house.gov/inslee/> , Washington

• Jim Gibbons <http://www.house.gov/gibbons/> , Nevada

• Grace F. Napolitano <http://www.napolitano.house.gov/> , California

• Greg Walden <http://www.house.gov/walden/> , Oregon

• Tom Udall <http://www.tomudall.house.gov/display2.cfm?id=4887&type=Home>, New Mexico

• Thomas G. Tancredo <http://www.house.gov/tancredo/> , Colorado

• Mark Udall <http://markudall.house.gov/HoR/CO02/Home.htm> , Colorado

• J.D. Hayworth <http://www.house.gov/hayworth/> , Arizona

• Raúl M. Grijalva <http://www.house.gov/grijalva/> , Arizona

• Jeff Flake <http://www.house.gov/flake/> , Arizona

• Dennis Cardoza <http://www.house.gov/cardoza/> , California

• Rick Renzi <http://www.house.gov/renzi/> , Arizona

• Madeleine Z. Bordallo <http://www.house.gov/bordallo/> , Guam

• Stevan Pearce, <http://www.house.gov/pearce/>  New Mexico

• Jim Costa <http://www.house.gov/costa/> , California

• Henry Brown <http://wwwc.house.gov/henrybrown/content.aspx?flash=y> ,South Carolina                    

• Charlie Melancon <http://www.house.gov/melancon/> , Louisiana

• Thelma Drake <http://drake.house.gov/> , Virginia

• Dan Boren <http://www.house.gov/boren/> , Oklahoma

• Luis Fortuno <http://www.house.gov/fortuno/> , Puerto Rico

• Stephanie Herseth <http://www.house.gov/herseth/> , South Dakota

• Cathy McMorris <http://www.mcmorris.house.gov/> , Washington

• Bobby Jindal <http://www.house.gov/jindal/> , Louisiana

• Louie Gohmert <http://www.house.gov/gohmert/> , Texas

• Marilyn Musgrave <http://wwwc.house.gov/musgrave/> , Colorado     

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Talking points

*     I am calling to ask you to support for the Endangered Species

Act and oppose any bill that would weaken protections for endangered

species and habitat. 

*     Next week, Representative Richard Pombo plans to introduce

legislation that could aggressively strip the Endangered Species Act of

its strongest protections.  Representative Pombo is controversial and

out of step with the American public’s support of the Endangered Species

Act.

*     For over thirty years, the Endangered Species Act has been a

safety net for wildlife, fish and plants on the brink of extinction.  It

has been successful in preventing the extinction of the American Bald

Eagle, the gray wolf, the pacific salmon, (or other local species) as

well as many other species. 

*     The Endangered Species Act stands for fundamental principles

that we all believe in and cannot allow to be weakened or removed.  In

fact, 86% of Americans support the Endangered Species Act. 

*     Please support the Endangered Species Act and oppose any bill

that would weaken protections for endangered species and habitat. 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

BACKGROUND:

 

 

Representative Pombo’s Extinction bill would gut the Endangered Species

Act on behalf of developers, oil companies, timber companies, mining

companies and extreme property rights groups.

 

 

We have not yet seen the full legislative language, but have seen a

summary of the major points.  According to reports, the bill would:

 

* change the definition of conservation, to abandon the nation’s

commitment to recovering species on the brink of extinction

 

*  redefine the definition of endangered species so that the species

must be endangered throughout its entire range.  (If this provision was

law when the ESA was first enacted, it would have been impossible to

list the bald eagle, the grizzly bear, the gray wolf and many other

species who are endangered in the lower 48, but not endangered in Alaska

or Canada.)

 

*  weaken protections for species listed as “threatened” under the law

 

*  weaken habitat protection, by requiring only occupied, and not

unoccupied, habitat be protected

 

*  exempt federal agencies from the requirement to consult with the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service on actions that might impact endangered

species

 

*  require the federal government to pay landowners for the cost of

complying with the law, under an onerous “takings” provision

 

*  expire the Endangered Species Act in the year 2015

 

 

While the provisions of the bill may change by the time it is

introduced, the draft shows that the real purpose of this bill is to

weaken the provisions of the Endangered Species Act.

 

 

The Endangered Species Act is a safety net that protects wildlife, fish

and plants on the brink of extinction.  It has been enormously

successful in preventing the extinction of hundreds of species,

including bald eagles, gray wolves and Pacific salmon. We must not

diminish protections for these magnificent animals, or fo