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Defenders in Action: Congress Takes Aim at Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act (ESA)—federal legislation that protects nearly 1,300 domestic types of imperiled plants and animals—is itself endangered. In recent months, politicians in Washington, D.C., have been working on several fronts to drive the act into extinction.
Critics of the act—led by Richard Pombo (R-California)—argue that the legislation has failed because too many species remain listed. Conservationists counter that the act was meant to be a safety net for species, and that the reason more animals and plants haven’t recovered is because of a lack of funds and continued habitat loss from development.
ESA critics have, in the past, attempted to do away with the legislation altogether. But their new strategy is to take it apart in piecemeal fashion. At least two bills have already been proposed; one of which, introduced by Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-California) and called the “Critical Habitat Reform Act of 2003,” received a hearing this spring on Capitol Hill. Rep. Cardoza’s bill would place more emphasis on the economic costs of designating “critical habitat”—areas considered essential to a species’ survival.
Speaking against the bill at the hearing, Jamie Rappaport Clark, Defenders’ executive vice-president, said the bill “would effectively make the designation of critical habitat the exception, rather than the rule, and turn what is now a mandatory requirement into one that is almost entirely discretionary.”
The second piece of legislation, proposed by Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon), would make it more difficult to add species to the threatened and endangered lists. The bill had not yet been scheduled for a hearing at press time.
