Last month, a bill that would significantly weaken the Endangered Species Act was passed in the house. Now its counterpart has been introduced to the Senate. While different from the House version, this bill is little better.
Perhaps the most blatant attack on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is the provision of the Crapo bill that would allow the Secretary of Interior to indefinitely postpone placing species on the endangered list or designating critical habitat, and would shield the Secretary from court orders to induce her to provide those protections.A more thorough overview is provided in the linked article, but here are a few key changes this bill would make to the ESA:
- It would create a system where land developers can purchase "credits" that allow them to destroy one species's habitat in exchange for protecting another's.
- It allows industry to re-write recovery plans, and explicitly makes any recovery plan non-binding.
- It makes it impossible for the Fish and Wildlife Service to update any permits as new science becomes available.
Norton said the landmark Endangered Species Act has failed because only a handful of the 1,268 listed species have been declared recovered.This argument strikes me as beyond silly. If our efforts aren't working, it seems like that would be a reason to redouble them, not to stop trying.
"The goal of the Endangered Species Act is to recover to the point where (endangered animals) no longer need the protections," Norton said. "It's the same as hospital. The purpose of a hospital is not to keep people there."
Please, write your senators and tell them that this bill is intolerable. You can find out how to get in contact with them at the U.S. Senate website.
Categories: Endangered Species Act | wildlife
