Endangering the Endangered Species Act?
congresswatch | Wildlife
As reported by the League of Conservation Voters in an update posted February 22, 2006 on its website, (www.lcv.org) Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is moving forward to introduce legislation to rewrite the Endangered Species Act. According to the LCV report, Inhofe will plow ahead with his bill, despite the failure of an advisory group tasked with making ESA recommendations to reach consensus on a key habitat provision.
Senate Wildlife Subcommittee Chairman Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) had commissioned the nonprofit Keystone Center to gather ESA stakeholders, ranging from environmentalists to the regulated sector, to reach consensus on ESA habitat issues. The stakeholders’ initial recommendations supported legislative changes to the ESA, but could not reach agreement on the controversial issue of critical habitat designations.
Inhofe’s plan could undermine some of the Act's most important and effective provisions, including the protection of critical habitat that species need to survive and recover and safeguards from federal projects that might harm endangered species. These measures weaken the vital role of science in virtually every decision under the law.
The U.S. House of Representatives already took steps last year to drastically weaken the ESA, one of the nation’s most respected environmental laws. Senate actions to further weaken the ESA could devastate threatened and endangered plant and animal species. Please contact Montana Senators Max Baucus and Conrad Burns. Ask them to oppose any proposals to weaken the Endangered Species Act. Please ask them to support ESA measures to protect critical habitat designations for the Nation’s threatened and endangered species.
For more information, contact the following organizations working on this issue:
