Endangered Species Act (ESA) Under Attack

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URGENT ALERT
from the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
September 27, 2005
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ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT (ESA) UNDER ATTACK

PLEASE CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES !!!


POMBO BILL WOULD RIP THE HEART OUT OF THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
Thirty Years of Progress Threatened by Industry Wish List Bill


U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources Chairman Richard Pombo, long a foe of the Endangered Species Act, introduced a bill last week that would significantly weaken protections for our fish, plants, wildlife, and the places they call home.

The House Resources Committee approved the bill last week and the legislation now goes to a full House vote.

Pombo's bill would remove current protections to which endangered species are entitled in favor of more latitude for property owners

The signatures of thousands of Californians who support the Endangered Species Act as currently written were delivered to Pombo's local office in Stockton when former Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey rallied with California farmers and fishermen in Stockton to denounce H.R. 3824. McCloskey was one of the Act's original authors. The Endangered Species Act is a safety net for wildlife, fish and plants that are on the brink of extinction. Fishermen and farmers at the rally say Pombo's bill is a giveaway to developers.

The Endangered Species Act is America's premier conservation law. It has a near perfect success rate in preventing the extinction of our nation's most imperiled plants and animals. Without it, the Condor, Bald Eagle, Wolf, Grizzly Bear, Florida Panther, Manatee and hundreds of other species would be extinct today. The Act is also moving species toward full recovery at a rapid rate. Though most of the 1,300 endangered species have been protected for less than half the time identified by federal biologists as necessary to recover them, nearly 70% are are stable or improving. The Key Deer, American Crocodile, Guadalupe Fur Seal, Southern Sea Otter, Brown Pelican, Mississippi Sandhill Crane, Kirtland's Warbler, Whooping Crane, California Least Tern, and Least Bell's Vireo are just a few of the hundreds of endangered species whose populations number have grown dramatically since being placed on the endangered species list.

-Pombo's bill eliminates critical habitat: Species with designated critical habitat are recovering twice as fast as species without it.

-Pombo's bill 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.

-Pombo's bill 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 takes unbiased, professional wildlife and fisheries experts out of the equation.

- Pombo's bill 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.

- Pombo's bill weakens jeopardy standard: Taking direct aim at this common sense requirement, Pombo's bill changes the definition of "jeopardy" to allow actions which immediately harm a species recovery potential based on speculation that it will recovery in the "long-term" i.e. 50 or even 100 years.

- Pombo's bill 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 the 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.

- Pombo's bill 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.
Call your congress people today!!

You can look up your Representative at:
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/fullcommittee/members.htm

Our Senators

Dianne Feinstein
U.S. Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0001
(202) 224-3841

Barbara Boxer
U.S. Senate
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0001
(202) 224-3553


TALKING POINTS

I am calling to ask you to oppose Representative Richard Pombo's bill to weaken protections for endangered species and habitat. I support the Endangered Species Act and I urge my Congressman to do so as well, and oppose Representative Pombo's bill and any bill that would weaken protections for endangered species and habitat.

Pombo Bill, HR3824

Thank you for taking important action. --

Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH)

2530 San Pablo Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94702
phone: 510 548 3113
email: bach@headwaterspreserve.org

http://www.HeadwatersPreserve.org



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