New Endangered Species Act a Menace

On Sept. 29 the U.S. House of Representatives quietly passed the so-called Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act by Rep. Richard Pombo. This bill, though it claims to revamp the Endangered Species Act, will destroy its very core. The new bill caters to developers, and makes it extremely difficult to list species as threatened or endangered, let alone protect them and their natural environment.

It gives industries the right to decide how much and what habitat an endangered species needs. I seriously doubt that industries would promote designating land desired for development as an endangered species' essential habitat. Not only this, but the bill completely eliminates the ESA's request for critical habitat protection of endangered species.

It puts a political twist on scientific information by allowing a government member, rather than expert scientists, to assess what kind of science should be used when making decisions about endangered species' biological requirements.

Pombo made a last-minute amendment to his bill requiring the political and economical impacts of listing the species to be taken into account. This creates more hurdles for a vulnerable species to jump over before it can become listed.

It removes the responsibility from dam developers and operators to plan around endangered species' needs. Dams are a destructive form of development that destroys river ecosystems and disrupts aquatic and terrestrial species' habitats.

The bill requires the government to pay private landowners and developers for any costs they incur by complying with regulations. This means our tax dollars go to developers because they are complying with existing federal law! It rewards developers for planning profitable projects on important habitat.

Still not convinced that the bill is a bad idea? Here's why we cannot scrap the act: The ESA is the most important piece of legislation regarding wildlife conservation. Of the more than 1200 species listed, only nine have gone extinct. A UC Davis professor estimated 190 species would have gone extinct if the act were not in existence or lacked its regulatory strength.

The world is experiencing a mass extinction rate 200 times greater than all past extinctions due to human impact. Biologist E.O. Wilson estimated that, if current rates continue, in 100 years half of all the species on Earth will go extinct. There are several ways people can make an effort to prevent further extinctions and the loss of healthy ecosystems, which, though we may not realize it, are critical to our and future generations' survival. Inform friends and family, and write to or call your representatives. The Senate votes on the new bill in the spring of this year, so we still have time to put a stop to it.

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