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Senate Dems press Kempthorne on 'troubling' ESA rewrite |
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A group of powerful Senate Democrats sent a stern rebuke to the
Interior Department yesterday demanding the agency not move forward on
new endangered species regulations until an analysis of potential
effects is delivered to Congress.
The letter from Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman
Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Wildlife Subcommittee Chairman Joe Lieberman
(I-Conn.) and three other EPW Committee members also calls the Bush
administration's recent efforts on endangered species revision
"troubling."
Draft regulations leaked last month would "reduce
dramatically" the positive effects of the Endangered Species Act on
restoring bald eagles, sea turtles and other imperiled animals, the
letter states.
The senators ask Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to detail
the process of pulling together the draft regulations and what the
potential effects could be on threatened and endangered plants and
wildlife. The senators also demand that Kempthorne put a halt to
rewriting the act until he has addressed their concerns.
"The draft revisions create the impression that the
department's leadership is focusing on reducing the scope and weakening
the substance of the federal government's wildlife protection laws,"
the letter states.
The EPW Committee has jurisdiction over endangered species issues.
The letter comes in response to Interior Department discussion
documents of possible wide-ranging ESA rewrites that circulated last
month. That draft included an across-the-board overhaul of ESA that
would have scaled back the government's power to list species or
prevent disruptive activities in their habitat (Greenwire, March 27).
Environmentalists and congressional Democrats have blasted the
proposal as tearing away at some of the key protective elements of ESA.
Interior Department officials have defended themselves by saying that
the leaked document was old and did not resemble their current
deliberations on ESA regulations.
Interior officials circulated a flyer that outlines some of
the goals and highlights of the draft regulations at recent meetings
with members of Congress and representatives from several environmental
groups to try to allay their fears. The flyer says the regulations
would increase the role of states, recovery plans and "collaborative"
projects. The regulations would also change the consultation process, a
key aspect of ESA that requires agencies to consult with wildlife
biologists on how federal actions could effect species, according to
the flyer.
Environmentalists following the process said Interior's
explanations have been vague and yesterday's letter would force the
agency to get specific on what exactly it intends to do with the
regulations. The senators' letter requests answers within a month to 15
detailed questions, including how the regulations would interact with
existing case law.
The letter also asks from what groups the agency has sought
advice and what input came from Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie
MacDonald. A recent Interior Inspector General's report found that
MacDonald pressured career employees into changing scientific documents
and findings related to Endangered Species Act listings and gave
information to industry attorneys (Greenwire, March 29).
The letter recommends "less controversial and more
constructive" initiatives, like expanding two popular landowner
incentive programs and supporting the "Endangered Species Recovery Act
of 2007," a bill to give tax incentives for species conservation that
Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) introduced in
the Finance Committee.
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