Senators John Chafee (R-RI) and Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID) have released
a draft bill to reauthorize the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This
bill has not yet been introduced into the Senate Environmental Works
Committee, where Senator Chafee is the Chairman and Senator Kempthorne
is the Subcommittee Chairman. Our own Senator Lautenberg is a
member of this committee.
This bill has a strong possibility of moving quickly through the Senate.
While the Chafee-Kempthorne draft bill has some good provisions,
it also contains industry-inspired amendments to the ESA that go
against the Act's purpose of protecting and recovering endangered
species and their habitats. Please urge the Senate Environment
and Public Works Committee leadership, along with Senator Lautenberg,
to remove these destructive parts of the bill.
Also ask Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to withhold support for this bill until these damaging provisions are withdrawn.
Please tell these Senators and Secretary Babbitt that you oppose:
* Allowing states to set water rights that would override ESA
protections for fish and wildlife;
* Letting the fox guard the hen house by allowing agencies like
the US Forest Service, Army Corps of Engineers, and Bureau of
Land Management to decide for themselves whether their actions
would harm a species. Called "self-consultation" this provision
would give agencies the ability to exempt themselves from the ESA;
* Allowing federal land management plans to move forward
without taking into consideration their effect on newly-listed
endangered species;
* Trading away wildlife to corporations by codifying the "No Surprises"
policy for Habitat Conservation Plans. In effect, this would
compound the scientific problems with HCPs by setting the terms
of plans in stone for 50 or even 100 years. Even under "extraordinary
circumstances" the already underfunded FWS would be forced to pay
for new mitigation techniques on privately owned lands, essentially
subsidizing private resource extraction.
* Preventing scientific recovery planning by allowing only those
recovery actions that are the "least costly, most cost effective,
or least burdensome" -- in effect eliminating many slightly more
expensive actions (such as reintroduction), that could be much
more effective in achieving recovery and delisting.
The reaction that environmentalists give to this draft bill now will greatly influence the final bill being introduced in the Senate.
Here's who to contact on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee:
John Chafee (Chairman) senator_chafee@chafee.senate.gov
Max Baucus (Ranking Minority) max@baucus.senate.gov
Dirk Kempthorne dirk_kempthorne@kempthorne.senate.gov
Harry Reid senator_reid@reid.senate.gov
Frank Lautenberg frank_lautenberg@lautenberg.senate.gov
or call: 1-800-972-3524 (Congressional Switchboard)
(Remember calls and letters make a much stronger statement with our leadership. All three works for me!)
Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt bbabbitt@ios.doi.gov
Make your voice heard for a strong and effective ESA!
Thanks for your help,
Dennis Schvejda
dschvejda@igc.apc.org
Conservation Chair NJ Chapter Sierra Club