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Defenders Magazine
Defenders in Action: Working to Save the Endangered Species Act
Conservationists are working to turn back yet another effort by Congress to undermine one of the nation’s most important environmental laws—the Endangered Species Act.
At press time, Rep. Richard Pombo (R-California) introduced legislation that would punch loopholes in the law on behalf of builders, oil companies and other special interests. Pombo’s bill, the “Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005," strikes at the heart of our nation’s wildlife conservation efforts.
“The bill contains provisions that would severely cripple the federal effort to recover endangered plants and animals," says Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders. “It runs counter to the very intent of the Endangered Species Act and flies in the face of Rep. Pombo’s earlier professed desire to improve wildlife conservation."
The bill would abandon the national commitment to the recovery of imperiled species, and would also:
• repeal requirements for protecting critical habitat for imperiled species
• eliminate protections for threatened species
• undermine provisions that ensure that actions by federal agencies do not jeopardize plants or animals on the federal list
• hinder the use of the best available science for endangered species recovery efforts
• require taxpayers to pay developers to not violate the law.
“The Endangered Species Act has been extraordinarily successful at preventing the extinction of our nation’s precious wildlife," says Jamie Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of Defenders. “Since 1973, only nine out of the 1,800 animals protected by the act have been declared extinct. Rep. Pombo’s legislation would put an end to that astonishing record of success and undermine any hope of protecting endangered plants and animals in the future."
For more information on the act and how you can get involved, see the insert on the following pages, or go to www.saveesa.org.
