House Rebuffs Bush on Endangered Species
The full house today passed an appropriations bill without the requested rider, dubbed the "extinction rider" by environmentalists. The House also refused to go along with the White House’s plan for drastic cuts in critical conservation programs in order to support the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The House passed an amendment by Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) that would prevent moves by the Bush Administration to open national monuments to oil and gas drilling, another amendment by Reps. Jim Davis (D-FL) Joe Scarborough (R-FL) to stop proposed oil and gas leasing off the Florida coast, and a third amendment by Reps. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Steve Horn (R-CA) to preserve strong environmental protections against environmentally destructive practices by the mining industry on public lands.
"We are deeply gratified that the House kept citizens in the picture on listing endangered species," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "The administration proposed to throw the fate of species at risk on the tender mercies of Interior Secretary Norton, who has argued that the entire Endangered Species Act is unconstitutional. We’re very thankful that House of Representatives chose a different path. House passage of this bill today, along with these amendments that repudiate a whole laundry list of President Bush’s proposals, show just how extreme his anti-environmental agenda really is."
Conservation in Action, a recent report by Defenders of Wildlife, The Center for Biological Diversity and The Endangered Species Coalition, outlined the threat posed by the Bush "extinction rider" to species that scientists have identified as at risk but not yet listed as endangered or threatened due to funding shortfalls and bureaucratic delays. The proposed rider would have eliminated deadlines and time lines that the agency must meet under the law as grounds for citizen-initiated lawsuits. Without these deadlines, the agency would be free to delay action as long as it wished; ultimately, until a species became extinct and was beyond the help of the Endangered Species Act. Cerulean warblers, Aleutian sea otters, New England cottontails, and wolverines are among the nearly 300 species in the current listing backlog.
The House bill also includes full allocations for last year’s historic conservation funding package. That landmark deal set aside $12 billion in dedicated funding over a six-year period for a broad menu of critical conservation programs – including the Land and Water Conservation Fund – that protect open space, wildlife habitat, wild lands and cultural treasures threatened by uncontrolled urban sprawl and development. The president’s request had cut the fiscal year 2002 level for the new fund by $250 million; $94 million of this cut would have impacted programs in the Interior appropriations bill.
Instead, the House bill keeps the Congress’ commitment made last year and provided the full $1.32 billion fiscal year 2002 level allocated for programs under its jurisdiction.
Unfortunately, the subcommittee fell short of providing the full $450 million funding for the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, and instead opted to take $60 million of that total that was for permanent land protection and direct it to two new temporary land protection programs requested by the president.
"We are also extremely gratified that the subcommittee held to the course that an overwhelming, bipartisan majority in Congress set us on last year with their historic agreement to allocate almost $12 billion in dedicated funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund and other key conservation programs. We are quite concerned that the president’s budget proposes a shell game that would have slashed these important initiatives, but the subcommittee has held true to the original vision and put real meat on the bones of the Fund," Schlickeisen said.
"Defenders of Wildlife also commends Representative Rahall for his successful amendment to protect our national monuments, some of the crown jewels of our nation for biodiversity and scenic beauty, and Reps. Davis and Scarborough for their victory in protecting Florida’s Gulf Coast beaches from the threat of oil spills," Schlickeisen noted. "We also appreciate the successful effort by Reps. Inslee and Horn to preserve the integrity of our public lands."
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Defenders of Wildlife is a leading nonprofit conservation organization recognized as one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. With more than 430,000 members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader on environmental issues.
Contact(s):
Cat Lazaroff, (202) 772-3270