***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
BIODIVERSITY/FOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS
ACTION
ALERT: Endangered Species Attacks Escalate
***********************************************
Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
March
22, 1995
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE
The
Global Action and Information Network herein provides a good
deal of
information on the various legislative proposals
circulating
that would severely constrain the present Endangered
Species
Act. In particular, GAIN asks for calls
to Senators
stating
disapproval of all the proposed anti-ESA legislation
outlined,
but particularly S 503 which is "to impose a moratorium
on the
listing of species as endangered or threatened and the
designation
of critical habitat in order to ensure that
constitutionally
protected private property rights are not
infringed..." Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt commented
on the
proposed
moratorium that "I must say that this is one of the more
unusual
ideas I have ever seen." This was
posted in the econet
conference
(gain.ecosystem). For further
information on EcoNet
membership,
a nonprofit online system, send any message to
<econet-info@igc.apc.org>.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
/*
Written 5:49 PM Mar 21, 1995 by gain in igc:gain.ecosystem
*/
/*
---------- "ESA Legislative Attacks Escalate" ---------- */
======
GAIN BILL REVIEW: Attacks on ESA
Escalate =====
* * *
GLOBAL ACTION AND INFORMATION NETWORK
* * *
740 Front Street, Suite 355 Santa Cruz,
CA 95060
phone: 408-457-0130 email: gain@gain.org
*
* * * March 21, 1995 *
* * *
The
1973 Endangered Species Act, due for reauthorization this
year,
is at the center of a Republican assault on deregulation and
overspending
and now faces severe attacks on its ability to
protect
endangered species and their critical habitat.
Legislation
designed to block protection of new endangered species
or
threatened habitat over the next six months is moving swiftly
through
both House and Senate. Three separate pieces of
legislation
(HR 889, HR 450, and S 503) include language imposing
a
moratorium on all new endangered species listings or critical
habitat
under the Endangered Species Act while Congress considers
changes
to the Act over the coming months.
If
passed, it is unclear how these directives would be reconciled
with a
Bush administration court agreement to put almost 400
candidate
species on the endangered and threatened species lists
over
four years.
FUNDING
FOR SPECIES PROTECTION RESCINDED
Legislation
that would rescind fiscal 1995 funding for the listing
endangered
and threatened species and designation of critical
habitat
passed the Senate March 16 as an amendment to the Defense
Supplemental
Appropriations legislation (HR 889).
Senator
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) attached an amendment to HR
889
that would halt fiscal 1995 funding for listing of endangered
species
and designation of critical habitat as a means of seeking
quick
reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act, a spokeswoman
for
Hutchison told _National Environment Daily_, March 17. The
measure,
if enacted, would rescind $1.5 million in funding to the
Fish
and Wildlife Service for any new listings or designations of
critical
habitat until the end of the fiscal year.
William
J. Snape, director of the legal division of Defenders of
Wildlife
told BNA (Bureau for National Affairs) that he is
"angered"
by the latest measure. "It is ill-advised, and will cost
more
over time," Snape said.
According
to Defenders of Wildlife, Hutchison's rider is abhorrent
for
several reasons: it prevents the listing of many species that
need
protection and could drop to dangerous levels as a result of
the
moratorium; it does not solve any economic or ecological
problems
under the ESA, rather it merely denies FWS any ability to
conserve
species pro-actively; and it purportedly evades the
process
that was established in the Senate Environment and Public
Works
Committee to analyze reauthorization of the ESA.
Snape
said the Defenders of Wildlife would sue the federal
government
if this funding rescission measure is enacted.
MORATORIUM
ON ESA LISTING MOVES FORWARD IN SENATE
The
full Senate Committe on Environment and Public Works is
scheduled
to mark up a ESA moratorium bill on March 23.
The
legislation
(S.503), also introduced by Hutchison (R-TX), passed
the
Senate's Drinking Water, Fisheries and Wildlife Subcommittee
on
March 14. S 503 is specifically
designed "to impose a
moratorium
on the listing of species as endangered or threatened
and the
designation of critical habitat in order to ensure that
constitutionally
protected private property rights are not
infringed..."
The
freeze, approved on a 5-4 party-line vote, would prevent the
U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) from protecting any
additional
species under the Endangered Species Act while Congress
considers
changes to the law over the next six months.
Two
amendments to the bill were introduced and passed by the
Drinking
Water, Fisheries, and Wildlife Subcommittee. Senator Dirk
Kempthorne,
(R-ID) introduced an amendment to clarify that
"certain
other reclassifications" (i.e. delisitngs) of species are
unaffected
by the bill. Under Kempthorne's amendment the Interior
or
Commerce secretary could determine that an endangered or
threatened
species, or a designated critical habitat for any
species
can be removed from the list during the moratorium.
The
other amendment, introduced by Senator John Warner (R-VA),
would
restrict the Fish and Wildlife Service from limiting public
access
through Virginia's Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge to the
False
Cape State Park. Presently, access to
the park is limited
to
hiking or biking on refuge roads, and beaches, and under a 1993
FWS
permit eight state sponsored van trips per week. The FWS in
1994
proposed a new permit that contains further limitations on
public
access to the park. The permit is currently being
challenged
by the Commonwealth of Virginia and is undergoing
review
by the FWS regional offices, according to Warner's
amendment.
The
legislation must still be acted upon by the full Environment
and
Public Works Committee before going to the Senate floor.
Hutchison
(R-TX) said her freeze would allow Congress to rewrite
the
Endangered Species Act free from the inflamed rhetoric
surrounding
new listings. "Reauthorization of
the Act is made
more
difficult by the heated public debate over individual
listings
of species and by overzealous enforcement of the act by
the
Fish and Wildlife Service," she testified. "It's time to call
a
timeout on further listings."
Senator
Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and other subcommittee Democrats
acknowledged
that changes must be made in the act. But they joined
environmentalists
in arguing that a freeze could result in
extinction
of vulnerable plant or animal species.
A
freeze would prevent the government from listing 118 plant and
animal
species currently under consideration for protection. Most
of
those affected listings are plants - which already aren't
entitled
to protection on private property.
Boxer
(D-CA) repeatedly challenged her Texas colleague to explain
why
plant species shouldn't be exempted from the freeze. She cited
the
Pacific yew, once logged to near extinction for its bark and
now
proving itself as a treatment for breast and ovarian cancer.
"To
me, it is the height of arrogance to turn our backs on
nature,"
Boxer said. "A moratorium is a cover word for killing."
Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt testified before the Drinking
Water,
Fisheries and Wildlife Subcommittee.that six-month freeze
on new
listings under the Endangered Species Act would constitute
"a
blunderbuss approach" to overhaul of the 1973 legislation,
"Obviously,
I'm not here to support a moratorium," Babbitt said.
"I
must say that this is one of the more unusual ideas I have ever
seen."
Randall
D. Snodgrass, director of Wildlife Policy at the National
Audubon
Society told BNA March 14 that he is "very disappointed
with
the vote." Snodgrass said he
thinks that the vote "could
mean
the extinction of a number of species that won't be protected
under
the ESA." The motivation of
Hutchison's bill (S 503) is
"called
into question," said Snodgrass.
Snodgrass
said that S 503 may die after being reported out of the
full
Senate committee. S 503 may become a "Christmas Tree" bill
with
lots of non-germane amendments attached to it, according to
Snodgrass.
If that happens the Senate leadership may be afraid to
bring
it to the floor for debate, according to Snodgrass. "One
Senator's
(Christmas) ornament is another's coal in the stocking,"
said
Snodgrass.
At the
present time there are 3 cosponsors of this bill, 1
Democrat
and 2 Republicans.
ESA IN
THE HOUSE
The
House is also succeeding in this legislative trend to freeze
new
endangered species and critical habitat protection.
In late
February, the House approved a two-year moratorium on new
species
listings as part of a broader regulatory moratorium bill
it
already has approved [H.R.450] and sent to the Senate. Not a
single
member rose to speak against the amendment.
Following
House passage, the bill went to the Senate, where
Government
Operations Committee Chair William V. Roth (R-DE) has
said it
is sure to be altered.
=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
ACTION
=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
Contact
members of the full Senate Comittee on Environment and
Public
Works as soon as possible. Urge them to
vote against S.
503 - don't
let it even reach the Senate floor.
NOTE: a list of
committee
members and phone numbers is provided below.
Contact
your Senators - tell them your opinion on ESA and the
bills
currently in the Senate that would drastically weaken
protection. Vote no on S. 503 if it should come to the
floor for
a
vote.
*Senate Committee on Environment and
Public Works*
In Order by Seniority Within
Party
ADDRESS: Dirksen Building, Room 456
1st & C Streets, NE
Washington, D.C. 20510
PHONE: 202-224-6176
------------------------------------------------------------
Republicans (9) Democrats (7)
------------------------- ----------------------
1. CHAFEE (R-RI) 1. BAUCUS
(D-MT)
Chair Ranking Minority Member
2. WARNER (R-VA) 2.
MOYNIHAN (D-NY)
3. SMITH, ROBERT C. (R-NH) 3.
LAUTENBERG (D-NJ)
4. FAIRCLOTH (R-NC) 4. REID
(D-NV)
5. KEMPTHORNE (R-ID) 5. GRAHAM, BOB
(D-FL)
6. INHOFE (R-OK) 6.
LIEBERMAN (D-CT)
7. THOMAS (R-WY) 7. BOXER
(D-CA)
8. MCCONNELL (R-KY)
9. BOND (R-MO)
-------------------
Sources:
"Bill
to Rescind Funding for ESA Lisitngs Clears Senate as Rider
to DOD
Funding Bill" , _BNA National Environment Dail_, 3/21/95
Description
and Status of S. 503, Endangered Species Listing
Moratorium
Act of 1995, Legi-Slate, 3/17/95
"Environmental
Focus - Getting Ready for Round Two," _National
Journal_,
3/11/95, Pg. 644
"House
Moves Toward Approval of Executive-Branch Bill,"
_Washington
Post_, 2/23/95
"House
Panel Endorses Freeze on Endangered Species Listings,"
_Washington
Post_, 3/14/95
"Objections
to GOP ideas Slow Congressional Pace", _Congressional
Quarterly_,
3/12/95
Senate
Subcommittee Approves Moratorium on Endangered Species Act,
_BNA
National Environment Daily_, 3/15/95, (Article No. 20741307)
_Washington
Post_ article, 3/8/95
--------------------------------------------------------------
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