It is hard to believe that no one has posted anything to VA-Bird on a major
threat to the Endangered Species Act that is happening this week. Because of
actions taken under the Endangered Species Act several bird species have
recovered dramatically. While the Endangered Species Act hasn't been perfect
it won't be strengthened by weakening it. That is what H.R. 3824 would do.
The following went out on MD-Osprey earlier this week and variations of it are
being circulated in Northern Virginia (I'm only listing Davis and Wolf as they
are the only VA congressman I have contact information for):
"... There is a bill authored by Rep.Pombo likely to be voted on this week,
which is of more concern because it has more chance of passing. This Bill (H.R.
3824), nicknamed the "Extinction bill", aims to greatly weaken the Endangered
Species Act (see below for details).
Several weeks ago Audubon Maryland-DC and a number of other groups jointly
petitioned the US Fish and Wildlife Service to list the "rufa" subspecies of
the Red Knot as Endangered and to designate critical habitat i.e. the horseshoe
crab breeding areas in the Delaware Bay. The Pombo Bill would undermine this
effort by, among other provisions, prohibiting the USFWS from designating
critical habitat for any listed species. In the past 20 years the rufa
subspecies of Red Knot has declined from 100,000 to 13,000 - the Pombo Bill
would likely send it to extinction rather than allow the USFWS to act for the
subspecies' recovery.
This bill is on the fast track, introduced last Monday September 19th and
scheduled for a vote this week. Calls to Congressmen can make a difference -
even if it passes the House, the Senate is less likely to pass it if it
receives opposition from the public in the process. Several Congressmen in our
region are listed as essential to target if this Bill is to be stopped. ...
this list includes are:
Address Title/Name Party ST District phone # fax # email
....
The Honorable Tom Davis R VA 11 202-225-1492 202-225-3071
tom.Davis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The Honorable Frank Wolf (202) 225-5136
Key problems with the Bill are that Pombo's bill would:
- Eviscerate habitat protections for endangered species. Congressman Pombo's
bill would severely limit the federal government's responsibility to protect
land it deems crucial to the health of endangered species. The Extinction Bill
would give a green light to developers, loggers and other special interests to
degrade and destroy sensitive wildlife habitat.
- Bankrupt the Endangered Species Act to pay special interests. Rep. Pombo's
bill would force the federal government to pay special interests when their
proposed projects would harm or kill endangered wildlife. There is no
requirement that the proposed activity be more than speculative and there is no
limit on the number of times a developer can receive compensation for different
proposed activities on his or her land. This provision could bankrupt the
Endangered Species Act when the Fish and Wildlife Service is forced to pay.
- Gut protections for threatened species. The bill would eliminate the blanket
protection from harm offered for threatened species under current regulations
and instead require the Fish and Wildlife Service to issue a separate
regulation for each threatened species. Many species could be stripped of
protection."
Please contact your congressman even if it isn't Congressman Davis and let
him/her know how important the Endangered Species Act is. You can do this by
calling, during regular business hours, the Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
and asking for your Member of Congress's office.
Joe Coleman, Loudoun Co
