[TN-Bird] Re: ESA revision
- From: <cpnichol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 21:55:37 -0400
WARNING: The following message contains information and opinions that some
readers may interpret as being too political for this listserve. If you are
one of these readers, then skip the rest of the message.
The House Resources Committee passed H.R. 3824 - the Threatened and Endangered
Species Recovery Act last week and it is to be introduced into the full house
any day now.
For the complete text of the bill, see
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c109:2:./temp/~c109hpd14w::
For the Resource Committee's analysis of the bill, see
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/. The right side of the page has links to
HR 3824 material.
For some contrasting viewpoints, see:
http://action.nwf.org/campaign/wildlifeextinctionbill20050923?
http://www.saveesa.org/
http://www.stopextinction.org
Following is the text of a sample letter for you to personalize and send to
your representative. The TOS has already taken a strong stand against this
bill. If it very important that you, as individuals, also let your
representative know how you feel about this bill.
Chuck Nicholson
Norris, TN
Sample Letter:
Dear <insert name of your representative>
As one of your constituents, I strongly urge you to oppose the Threatened and
Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005 (H.R. 3824). While I agree with the
House Resources Committee goal of improving the Endangered Species Act, I
believe that H.R. 3824 takes the wrong approach to doing this and will, in
fact, greatly reduce the conservation and recovery of endangered and species.
Because of the Endangered Species Act, populations of numerous animals and
plants in Tennessee are presently much healthier than they were decades ago.
The present status of the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, snail darter, mountain
skullcap, and Eggert?s sunflower in Tennessee are proof that the Endangered
Species Act works.
Much of the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act will be reversed by
H.R. 3824. Following are some of the numerous harmful aspects of H.R. 3824.
? Increases Political Manipulation of Scientific Decisions - The ESA
presently requires that decisions be made ?solely on the basis of the best
scientific and commercial data available.? H.R. 3824 significantly weakens
this standard by allowing the Secretary of Interior, rather than scientists, to
determine what constitutes the best science. It disallows the use of
commercial data (such as harvest and trade data, which are major sources of
information on commercially exploited species), and discourages the use of
modeling results. Because of the low numbers of many endangered and threatened
species, modeling results are frequently the best available scientific data.
? Weakens Protection of Threatened Species - Current ESA regulations give
species listed as threatened most of the same protections as species listed as
endangered. H.R. 3824 voids these regulations and instead requires that
individual regulations be issued for every for threatened species.
? Eliminates Critical Habitat Protections - Critical habitat is a very
important measure for protecting areas where endangered and threatened species
occur. H.R. 3824 eliminates critical habitat and replaces it with ?special
value habitat? offering no legal protection to the species.
? Weakens Potential for Rangewide Recovery of Listed Species - H.R. 3824
allows individual states to have the portion of a species? population found in
that state delisted, regardless of the rangewide status of the species. This
measure would preclude the full recovery of the species to non-endangered
status.
? Weakens Responsibilities of Federal Agencies - Section 7 of the ESA
states that it is the responsibility of federal agencies to conserve endangered
and threatened species, and establishes a consultation process for the US Fish
and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service to review the
effects of agency actions on listed species. This consultation process is
generally efficient and timely, and has led to improvements in the status of
many listed species while rarely causing major changes in the agencies?
actions. H.R. 3824 greatly weakens this process and allows agency actions
harming endangered species to proceed with minimal to no consultation.
? Greatly Increases Costs to Taxpayers - One of the major impediments to
the recovery of endangered and threatened species has been the underfunding of
ESA implementation efforts by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and National
Marine Fisheries Service. This underfunding has persisted for years and is not
unique to any recent administration or either political party. H.R. 3824
increases the costs of ESA implementation by creating many new bureaucratic
hurdles. It also includes a provision requiring taxpayers to reimburse private
landowners for not harming endangered and threatened species. The amount of
these payments is to be based on the potential maximum future profits
landowners might reap from their land, rather than current land values. While
I support measures to encourage the cooperative conservation of endangered and
threatened species by private landowners (through tax incentives and
continuation and expansion of existing programs), the reimbursement provision
in H.R. 3824 are outrageous.
These are but a few of the numerous aspects of H.R. 3824 that will harm the
conservation and recovery of endangered and threatened species. I trongly urge
you to vote no on this bill.
Sincerely,
<your name>
<your address>
**********************************************
>
> From: "David Aborn" <David-Aborn@xxxxxxx>
> Date: 2005/09/28 Wed PM 03:16:20 EDT
> To: "TN-Bird" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [TN-Bird] ESA revision
>
> TN-Birders:
>
> The bill Charlie referred to is H.R. 3824 Threatened and Endangered Species
> Recovery Act. Given the apolitical nature of TN-Birds, I am not trying to
> influence anyone; simply to inform interested persons about the content of
> the bill. I apologize if it seems otherwise. The major provisions are:
> weakening the necessity for protecting critical habitat, eliminating
> protection for species with Threatened status (only those listed as
> Endangered would get protection), reduces scientific input in decision
> making, includes a provision that taxpayers pay developers not to violate
> the Act, and it gives developers an automatic exemption from complying with
> the act if the government does not tell them within 90 days of filing a
> petition whether their actions will harm endangered species.
>
> The bill passed the House Resources Committee last Thursday (9/22), and is
> now on the calendar to go before the full House of Representatives.
>
> David Aborn
> Chattanooga, TN
>
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=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================
The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
-----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society
Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
endorse the views or opinions expressed
by the members of this discussion group.
Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
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