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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Help
Block Sen. Gorton's "Special Interest" Assault on U.S. ESA
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
April
30, 1995
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE
Senator
Slade Gorton (R-WA) is now circulating a draft Endangered
Species
Act (ESA) reauthorization bill that would eliminate
virtually
all of the ESA provisions that have successfully
protected
the United State's endangered species since the law was
enacted
22 years ago. The bill was largely
written by commercial
lobbyists. The Gorton bill would end the Nation's
commitment to
save
fish, wildlife and plant species for future generations. The
Gorton
bill would eliminate the ESA's protections of habitat
--
despite the fact that habitat destruction is the primary cause
of
species decline and extinction. This
item was posted by the
National
Wildlife Federation in econet's biodiversity conference,
and
asks for you to contact your congressional representatives.
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/**
biodiversity: 804.0 **/
**
Topic: Action Needed on Gorton AntiESA Bil **
**
Written 6:22 AM Apr 28, 1995 by jkostyack in
cdp:biodiversity
**
A
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION ACTION ALERT
HELP
BLOCK SEN. GORTON'S "SPECIAL INTEREST"
ASSAULT
ON THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
Senator
Slade Gorton (R-WA) is now circulating a draft Endangered
Species
Act (ESA) reauthorization bill that would eliminate
virtually
all of the ESA provisions that have successfully
protected
the Nation's endangered fish, wildlife and plants since
the law
was enacted 22 years ago. The bill is
expected to be
introduced
in early May after Senator Gorton enlists other
Senators
as cosponsors.
The
Gorton bill is nothing more than the wish list of powerful
corporate
interests currently regulated by the ESA.
As
revealed in a leaked memo written by a Gorton staffer, the
Gorton
bill was written by the very corporations whose
destructive
activities have led to the serious decline of species
and
ecosystems. When confronted by the New
York Times about the
memo,
Gorton acknowledged the regulated industries' role in
crafting
his bill while also admitting "I don't think that's how
good
public policy should be made."
Apparently, good public
policy
is not the goal of the Gorton bill.
The
Gorton bill is full of special favors for corporate
contributors
to the Senator's campaign warchest.
Some
likely outcomes of the Gorton bill would be extremely
favorable
to the Senator's campaign contributors:
Extinction
of wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest.
Salmon
are
integral to Pacific Northwest's culture and economy, and thus
many
leaders in the region are relying heavily on the ESA to help
recover
rapidly-declining salmon stocks.
Unfortunately, many
large
corporate contributors to the Gorton campaign have a vested
interest
in maintaining cheap hydropower and other threats to the
survival
of salmon species. The Gorton bill
would revise the ESA
so that
it cannot be used to recover wild salmon species --
benefitting
Gorton's campaign contributors, but ensuring the
ultimate
extinction of these irreplacable fish resources.
Extinction
of the Stellar's sea lion in Alaska.
Scientists
believe
that the rapid decline of the Stellar's sea lion
populations
in Alaska may be caused by industrial fishing
trawlers
operating in territorial seas. One of
the only hopes
for the
sea lion is implementation of the ESA, which requires
"incidental
take" of such endangered species to be minimized.
The Gorton
bill explicitly prohibits any regulation of
"incidental
take" of non-fish species in territorial seas. This
bill
language would provide a direct financial benefit for the
industrial
trawling industry, a major contributor to the Gorton
campaign,
but could mean extinction for the Stellar's sea lion in
Alaska.
The
Gorton bill would end the Nation's commitment to save fish,
wildlife
and plant species for future generations.
The
Gorton bill would explicitly end the Nation's longstanding
commitment
to conserve species for future generations,
authorizing
the federal government to choose feeble "conservation
objectives"
that would mean certain extinction. For
example,
under
the Gorton bill the Secretary of Interior could choose to
prohibit
nothing other than direct kills of the endangered
Florida
panther -- and thus allow the species to go extinct as a
result
of habitat destruction.
The
Gorton bill would eliminate the ESA's protections of habitat
--
despite the fact that habitat destruction is the primary cause
of
species decline and extinction.
The
Gorton bill eliminates or fatally weakens all of the habitat
protections
of the ESA. In a speech to timber
industry
executives,
who stand to benefit mightily from these changes,
Gorton
boasted that the bill "doesn't undo everything that's been
done. But I suspect it would end up having that
effect."
The
Gorton bill authorizes giveaways of taxpayer dollars to large
corporations
as compensation for their compliance with the law.
Although
the Gorton bill places very few responsibilities on
corporations
to protect endangered species, it requires that
scarce
taxpayer funds be used to pay 50 percent of any costs
these
corporations incur in fulfilling their most basic
stewardship
obligations.
Help
save endangered species -- contact your Senators and tell
them to
oppose the Gorton bill and support a strong and effective
Endangered
Species Act.
For
more information, contact:
John Kostyack, Counsel, (202)
797-6879
Suzanne Jones, Legislative
Representative, (202) 797-6666
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