Proposed Endangered Species Bill Rescinds Sound Science

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Tue, 19 Jul 2005 13:48:18 GMT

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Proposed Endangered Species Bill Rescinds Sound Science

 

 

Bush Greewatch

 

July 19, 2005 | Back Issues

 

Proposed Endangered Species Bill Rescinds Sound Science

 

In addition to the dramatic crippling of the Endangered Species Act

(ESA) examined in yesterday's BushGreenwatch, Rep. Richard Pombo's

proposed Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005, would

do other harms as well.

 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a nationwide policy to protect

threatened species from unregulated taking (hunting, harming, or

harassing). The Pombo bill would prohibit such protection; instead it

would require the agency to issue separate regulations for each

species, creating a bureaucratic nightmare for the Fish and Wildlife

Service (FWS). [1]

 

Moving beyond the nightmare into the realm of the irrational, the

Pombo bill would also require that citizens supply the FWS with all

data and studies used in petitions to get a species listed. It would

further require the Service to duplicate and store all data and

reports used in listing critical habitat decisions in every state in

which the species exists. This would entail the duplication of

millions of pages of information that no one has requested.

 

" This will keep Fish and Wildlife Service biologists away from the

field and chained to Xerox machines, " Kieran Suckling, policy director

of the Center for Biological Diversity, told BushGreenwatch.

 

The mind-numbing bureaucracy created by the Pombo bill is not the only

way it affects sound science. Another provision contributes to the

growing concern over the politicization of science.

 

The Endangered Species Act currently requires that all decisions be

based on the " best available scientific and commercial information. "

Given the ever-improving nature of science and technology, the term

" best " is deliberately left ambiguous in order to leave the decision

up to the biologists who assess the health of species populations. [2]

 

The Pombo bill ignores scientific advances. Instead it leaves the

interpretation of " best " science to the discretion of the Secretary of

Interior, Gale Norton.

 

" This is a key issue because the ESA is the only law that says all

decisions must be made with the best available science, mandating that

the question of what is `best' should be up to the scientific

community, " said Suckling. " But Pombo's bill allows the Secretary of

the Interior to develop her own definition and use it to ignore

studies she feels are insignificant. "

 

Michael Senatore, legislative counsel at Defenders of Wildlife, adds

that such terminology could invite an increase in industry litigation,

contradicting one of Pombo's stated reasons for rewriting the ESA,

which was to limit unnecessary lawsuits.

 

" This is blatantly inconsiderate of the rhetoric that says there are

too many lawsuits surrounding the ESA, " Senatore told BushGreenwatch.

 

The Pombo bill opens virtually every stage of the endangered species

listing process to litigation from industry, while essentially barring

lawsuits from environmental groups. While it establishes an appeals

process, which can be invoked by " any person that would be injured, "

it allows the Secretary of Interior to define who qualifies as an

injured party. " The expectation is that the Secretary will only allow

economic harm to qualify as an injury, which means that only

corporations and landowners who have financial stakes can appeal, but

scientists and environmentalists cannot, " said Suckling.

 

" There has already been an acceleration of industry lawsuits against

the ESA since 2001. Deliberately opening up more opportunities for

industry to litigate is absurd, " said Bill Snape, chairman of the

Endangered Species Coalition. While Snape does not expect the Pombo

bill to reach the House floor without changes, " It does lay down the

framework for future legislative attacks on the Endangered Species Act. "

 

###

 

SOURCES:

[1] " Pombo Bill would repeal endangered species act, eliminate

recovery goals and requirements, " Center for Biological Diversity,

Jul. 8, 2005

[2] Ibid. [1]

 

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