HOME PAGE
|
Friday, February 04, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
GOP bill seeks significant changes in Endangered Species Act
By Christine Dorsey
Donrey Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Once again this year, lawmakers are considering significant changes to the Endangered Species Act that could make it more difficult to add species to the list and would give property owners whose land is home to protected species more flexibility in what they can do with their holdings.
The House Resources Committee heard testimony Wednesday on a Republican bill its supporters call "The Common Sense Protection for Endangered Species Act of 2000" that would reauthorize the 27-year-old law that protects plants and animals threatened or on the brink of extinction.
"I can't believe how this act has gotten carried away," said Rep. James Hansen, R-Utah, who complained that in his home state more federal money is used to protect desert tortoises than to educate children -- that's $33,000 per tortoise versus $4,000 per child, he said.
The new legislation would allow opponents to new listings to sue to prevent them, give states more power to control listings, and give greater preference to other agencies' missions, such as building dams or logging.
Congress has been unable for years to reach compromise on renewing the act. In the meantime, battles involving the law are being fought locally -- such as in Elko County, where the threatened bull trout is the focus of conflict between residents and the federal government.
Testimony at Wednesday's hearing indicated a big split still exists. Critics, mainly environmental groups, testified that the measure makes no sense at all.
"(The bill) erodes nearly every type of protection that the ESA currently provides to listed species," said Steve Shimberg, who testified for the National Wildlife Federation. "The impact on the nation's threatened and endangered species will be disastrous."
But the bill's sponsors, committee leaders Reps. Don Young, R-Alaska, and Richard Pombo, R-Calif., said the Endangered Species Act has failed in its main purpose: recovering species.
Their bill would give states more responsibility to move plants and animals off the list, require tougher scientific standards to list new species, and protect property owners from losing their livelihoods.
"Currently, the administration spends all their resources listing species and is spending very little to recover and delist species," Young said.
A competing bill introduced in 1997 and again last March by California Democrat George Miller and backed by environmentalists has not yet had a hearing.
Presently, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service lists more than 1,200 endangered or threatened plants and animals, which gives them federal protection from any activities that might harm them or their habitats. About 30 species have come off the list, and Republicans on the committee said none rebounded because of the federal law.
Nevada is home to 25 threatened or endangered animals, including bull trout. In 1998, the fish was placed on the "threatened" list, which allows scientists to study it for inclusion on the "endangered" list.
The listing sparked a mini-revolt by residents in the tiny community of Jarbidge in Elko County. Officials at the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest decided to close a washed out road over the Jarbidge River because of concerns about how reconstructing the road would affect the already declining population of bull trout.
Residents have protested ever since, and last month marched through the streets with shovels vowing to rebuild the road themselves if the federal government doesn't reverse its decision.
Julie Dudley, chairperson of the Nevada Wildlife Federation's Endangered Species Alliance, said the GOP bill puts economic considerations ahead of the environment, and could doom many of Nevada's animals and plants that currently enjoy federal protection.
"Sometimes there's a direct economic conflict," she said.
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., sits on the House Resources Committee. He supports the GOP bill, said his spokesman Jay Cranford.
E-mail this story to a friend:
Give us your FEEDBACK on this or any story.
BEST OF LAS VEGAS
Fill out our Online Readers' Poll
|
Printable version of this story
|
