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Defenders Magazine
Defenders in Action: House Votes to Gut Wildlife-Saving Law
Congress dealt a heavy blow to our nation’s premier conservation law, the Endangered Species Act, last fall. The U.S. House of Representatives on September 29 narrowly passed a bill sponsored by Rep. Richard Pombo (R-California) that would decimate the conservation of endangered species.
Among other things, the bill would eliminate the protection of habitat for endangered species, weaken oversight of federal agency actions, undermine the use of sound science in decision-making about endangered wildlife, and require taxpayers to pay irresponsible developers not to kill endangered wildlife. The bill would also allow pesticide use that kills endangered species.
"The Pombo bill is the dream of every irresponsible developer out there," says Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "Not only does this bill gut the Endangered Species Act, but it creates a government give-away program to greedy developers and provides new loopholes to make it easier to use deadly pesticides that will impact not only wildlife, but also our children, by polluting our lands and waters."
Defenders supported an amendment to Rep. Pombo’s bill offered by a bipartisan group of representatives. This amendment would have protected habitat for species recovery, enhanced the role of the states in endangered species conservation, retained scientific standards, provided real landowner incentives to preserve wildlife and kept pesticide protections in place. That proposal was narrowly rejected by a vote of 216-206.
The closeness of the vote gives wildlife and public health proponents leverage to stop Rep. Pombo's bill when it arrives in the more moderate Senate. Senators Lincoln Chafee (R-Rhode Island) and Hillary Clinton (D-New York) are expected to lead the effort to maintain a strong Endangered Species Act. Both Senators have expressed opposition to the Pombo bill.
In preparation for the eventual Senate vote, Defenders is organizing grassroots activists around the country, working with like-minded partner organizations and launching a media campaign to educate the public about the importance of the Endangered Species Act. Visit www.saveesa.org to keep updated and learn what you can do to help protect endangered wildlife and plants.
