Forests Forever Action Alerts
Kempthorne/White
House attack on ESA
intensifies potential threat to imperiled species
As over 50,000 species become extinct each year worldwide, Congress is poised to weaken one of the nation's strongest environmental laws– the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Sen. Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID) introduced S. 1180 on Sept. 16. Dubbed "ESAin't" by the bill's opponents, including Forests Forever, the Environmental Defense Fund, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, U.S. PIRG and others, the legislation would subsidize habitat destruction, weaken species protection standards in the current law and provide preferential treatment for extractive industries. Backers of "ESAin't" include the timber, oil, gas, utilities and real estate industries.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Sept. 30 passed S. 1180 on a vote of 14-3. California Sen. Barbara Boxer was one of the three committee members who voted against the bill. S. 1180 may go to a full-Senate floor vote before Congress adjourns in mid-November. The Clinton Administration said the President will sign the bill, pending a few minor modifications.
"This bill is completely inconsistent with its stated aim to bring about recovery for endangered species," said Tara Mueller of Oakland's Environmental Law Foundation and a member of Forests Forever's Board of Directors. "It would erect numerous roadblocks to species-recovery planning and codify some of the Administration's worst policies, such as 'No Surprises.'"
Perhaps the biggest problem with the measure is its Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) provisions. HCPs allow for the destruction of a listed species' critical habitat in one location in exchange for saving it in another. S. 1180's notorious "No Surprises" proposal would prevent any modification of HCPs– even in light of changed circumstances that might later arise, such as new science concerning species or habitat in the covered area. Thus under S. 1180, once an HCP is approved it would be unchangeable regardless of its impact on wildlife.
Another strike against S. 1180 is that it would delay listings of species by requiring hearings on proposed listings in up to five states, and would require a peer review of listing decisions even in uncontroversial cases. S. 1180 would shift the scientific burden of proof from habitat-destroying persons and companies to the public. Scientists estimate that on average many species' populations fall to fewer than 1000 individual animals (or 100 individual plants) before they receive protection under the ESA. With such populations already at dangerously low levels, additional delays in the listing process would further jeopardize these species' recovery or survival.
"S. 1180 is like the death of a thousand cuts," Mueller said. "Taken together, its provisions represent a major weakening of the Endangered Species Act."
On a brighter note, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) on July 31 introduced H.R. 2351, the Endangered Species Recovery Act (ESRA). With 76 co-sponsors at this writing, ESRA calls for full protection of habitat as soon as a species is listed. ESRA would close loopholes that currently exclude protection for invertebrates and plants and would consider new developments on the basis of how they would affect a species' recovery.
ESRA enjoys the strong support of environmental groups across the nation, including Forests Forever, which played a key role campaigning for ESRA's introduction. Perhaps imitation is flattery: Introduced some six weeks after Miller's bill, Kempthorne named S. 1180 "Endangered Species Recovery Act".
"The work of Bay Area canvassing groups like Forests Forever has done more to get the word out (about ESRA) to people who do not have a working knowledge of the issue," said Eric Wingerter, Outreach Assistant with the Washington, D.C.-based Grassroots Environmental Effectiveness Network (GREEN). "Pressure from grassroots organizations has played a key role in this battle. Strengthening of the ESA can't be won solely in Washington (DC)."
Since the ESA was signed into law in 1973 only eight species have recovered enough to be de-listed. Today at least 1,117 species are listed, half of which are found in the U.S. Almost 4,000 additional candidate species await listing. This indicates a need to strengthen, not weaken, the nation's most effective means of protecting imperiled species and their habitats.
Meantime S. 1180 is on a fast track to further lay waste to biodiversity. S. 1180 must be defeated without delay.
Please call, write, FAX or e-mail today
Sen. Dianne
Feinstein
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
202/224-3841 phone
202/228-3954 FAX
senator@feinstein.senate.gov
Kathleen McGinty,
Director
Council on Environmental Quality
Old Executive Office Building #360
Washington, DC 20501
202/456-6225 phone
202/228-3954 FAX
Bruce Babbitt
Secretary of the Interior
Washington, DC 20240
202/208-7351 phone
202/208-6956 FAX
Bruce_Babbitt@ios.doi.gov
Also, please write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper to let its readers know that this attack on the ESA is unacceptable.
Tell them you
support a strengthened ESA and greater safeguards for biodiversity.
S. 1180 would take us in the wrong direction. Point out that
S. 1180 would:
enact the "No Surprises" policy denying any changes to approved HCPs, even in light of new scientific information. provide insufficient protection of listed-species habitat under S. 1180¼s HCP provisions. further delay the backlogged listing process, allowing for even greater jeopardy to candidate species.
Also, please contact your representative today and urge him or her to sign on to Rep. Miller's ESRA bill as a co-sponsor. If you do not know who your congressperson is call the Capitol switchboard at 202/225-3121, or go to one of the following web sites:
http://www.voxpop.org:80/zipper/
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