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For Immediate Release
April 29, 2004
Bush Administration
Contributes to
Endangered Species
Act Improvement Effort
Washington,
DC - The efforts of Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-CA) and
the House Committee on Resources to improve the Endangered Species
Act (ESA) were boosted this week by Bush Administration's
announcements that will help focus the broken law on species
recovery.
Specifically, the administration
announced new
regulations for endangered species conservation agreements that will
enhance cooperative recovery efforts on private lands. In addition,
it has decided to put more emphasis on science and innovation under
the ESA by including hatchey-bred fish in population assessments.
"Proactive efforts to focus the
Endangered Species Act on results for recovery are really starting
to get off the ground," Chairman Pombo said. "As my committee
begins to consider ways to modernize the Act legislatively, the Bush
Administration is taking steps to stimulate private conservation and
enhance species populations though innovation. These decisions will
help focus the full force of the law on species recovery, which is
where the law intended it be."
According to the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, only twelve of the Act's roughly 1300 protected
species have recovered in its thirty-year history. Unintended
consequences and a misguided focus on "listing" species have
rendered the ESA an unsustainable, broken law that checks species,
but never checks them out.
"If we are going to put
this law on track to improve results for recovery, it is going to
take conservation, cooperation, and innovation," Pombo said. "That
is exactly what the Resources Committee is focused on, and this
week's decisions from the Bush Administration are right on target
too. Species recovery must be our number-one priority."
Yesterday, the Resources
Committee heard testimony from
more than a dozen expert
witnesses
on H.R. 2933, the Critical Habitat Reform Act, authored by
Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA). H.R. 2933 merges the critical habitat
component of the ESA with the larger effort of recovery planning to
increase the regulatory focus on species recovery.
This year the Committee will also
consider, H.R. 1662, Sound Science for Endangered Species Act
Planning Act, introduced by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR).
For more information, visit
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/ for the report:
The ESA at
30: A Mandate for Modernization
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