God
Save the Endangered Species Act
By
KARYN STRICKLER
No matter which manifestation of the
original energy to which you pray--God, Buddha, Allah or Mother
Nature--it's time to hit your knees and put in a request to save
the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Prayer may be the last hope
of preserving the Act, which protects the endangered species
and their habitat, upon which all life on Earth depends.
What has taken evolution three
billion years to create, may take humanity only a few generations
to destroy. Extinction means knowledge forfeited and opportunities
lost, food sources never to be tapped, medicines never to be
developed. The main cause of extinction is habitat loss. Think
of habitat as plant and animal food and housing. Tragically,
habitat which can't support our planet's animals and plant life
is ill-suited to support humanity.
Don't count on the national environmental movement -- known in
politically conscious circles as Gangrene -- to come to the defense
of the ESA, since they are the ones who laid tthe groundwork
for the destruction of the Act in the early 1990's. They bear
full responsibility for the attempts at evisceration of the Act,
which are taking place in the U.S. Congress today.
A History
of Cowardice
During my tenure as Executive
Director, from 1993-1994, the Endangered Species Coalition (ESC)
became fully prepared to fulfill our mission of reauthorizing
and strengthening the Endangered Species Act with a powerful,
regionally-focused organizational infrastructure; a broad grassroots
base and trained leaders in key districts. We had a Democratic
Congress and U.S. President, adequate funding and a strategic
plan that would have gained strength with the momentum of what
commentators were predicting would be 'the legislative battle
of the decade.'
There was one obstacle--not
right-wingers in Congress or property rights advocates out west--but
the Steering Committee of the Endangered Species Coalition.
They represented and were fully-backed by the nation's premier,
inside-the-beltway, environmental organizations -- groups like
Sierra Club, The National Audubon Society and Greenpeace USA*.
The fog of big money from wealthy
foundations that remain invested in the status quo of the fossil
fuel age and the bright lights of the power that comes from being
players in the political game of compromise, caused Gangrene
to lose sight of the path to true environmental protection.
So, despite the loud outcry from the other 137 Coalition member
groups and staff, the self-appointed Steering Committee, made
the unilateral decision that the Endangered Species Coalition
would not move for a vote on reauthorizing the ESA in 1994.
At the time, I explained to
the Steering Committee that the party controlling the White House
had lost congressional seats in all but one midterm election
-- and our job could range from slightly more difficult to nearly
impossible in 1995 -- with Republican control of Congress. Of
course 1995 saw the realization of the Republican Revolution
and the Contract on America , led by Newt Gingrich, which had
a strong anti-environmental component.
But in the face of impending
disaster -- fully aware of the dire consequences of inaction
-- the Steering Committee held fast to its 'do nothing' strategy.
That singular, short-sited decision sealed the ill fate of tens
of thousands of threatened and endangered species and contributed
to overall environmental degradation.
If the Steering Committee had
acted in the early 90's to strengthen the ESA, environmentalists
would have been fighting a difficult, but winnable battle from
an offensive position. Instead, the majority of the U.S. Congress
today are opponents of environmental protection. Proponents
of a strong ESA are relegated to fighting a weak, defensive battle,
where clinging to the environmental protections we already have
will be extremely difficult and advances will be nearly impossible.
Sadly, there is no way to recover
from such a monumental, political miscalculation. We have not
since -- and may not in our lifetime -- see a political opportunity
to reauthorize the Act, like the one presented in the early 19900's.
The cowardice displayed by the ESC Steering Committee led directly,
predictably and inexorably to the legislation which recently
passed in Richard Pombo's (R-CA) House Resources committee, designed
to gut the Endangered Species Act.
The ESA
Today
What we need is full enforcement
and complete funding of all of the provisions of the Endangered
Species Act including: listing of all species which are in danger
of extinction throughout a significant portion of their range
(endangered species) or likely to become so in the foreseeable
future (threatened species); enforcement of critical habitat
designation requirement, identifying and protecting the areas
that need special management in order for the endangered or threatened
species to recover; and mandatory recovery planning that offers
a detailed plan as to what must be done in order to have an endangered
or threatened species recover and be removed from the endangered
species list.
What we have currently is an
Act where many species that desperately need protection have
not yet been added to the endangered species list. Many other
species which are in need of listing and the full protection
it provides, languish on a 'candidate' list or a 'warranted but
precluded' list for years. Richard Pombo (R-CA) wants to make
listing species more difficult than it is today.
Another bill sponsored by Dennis
Cardoza (D-CA) recently passed in committee. Even before Cardoza's
bill makes it tougher than it is now to designate critical habitat
for endangered species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
has not designated critical habitat for the vast majority of
all listed species. Today, despite the fact that it is required
by law, the Fish and Wildlife Service rarely designates critical
habitat, unless forced to do so by a court order.
Most listed species have no
recovery plans. Some of the species on the list have gone extinct,
or suffered population decline while awaiting recovery planning
and implementation. Even if recovery plans are written, they
don't have adequate detail for real recovery and are only advisory,
without specific mandates to bring species back from the brink
of extinction.
The two pieces of legislation
by offered by Representatives Pombo and Cardoza passed in committee
by comfortable margins and are expected to pass the U.S. House
of Representatives. The Washington Post says that the bills
are unlikely to pass the U.S. Senate prior to adjournment.
According to a story in the
San Francisco Chronicle, 'the [House Resources] committee's ranking
Democrat, Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., offered a substitute bill
that would have tightened the deadlines for making decisions
and also required the [FWS] to address the backlog of 451 listed
species that are awaiting critical habitat designations and 1,021
[of the 1,200] listed species without recovery plans.' That
bill failed in committee, but gives an idea of what is sorely
needed to strengthen the ESA.
Contrary to the claims of ESA
opponents, proponents of a strong Endangered Species Act support
the rights of small property owners. Proponents have supported
legislation that contains financial incentives to help enable
individual private property owners to be stewards to endangered
species. Proponents of a strong ESA do not support the destruction
of critical habitat by large landowners and wealthy, corporate
interests seeking regulatory relief and freedom from restrictions
on their exploitation of our nation's natural resources.
Americans know that we need
long-term jobs that are part of a sustainable economy, rather
than jobs based on short-sighted destruction of our natural resources,
a scenario that will inevitably lead to economic collapse. We
need to ensure that extractive industries work in a way that
doesn't hurt the environment, which sustains our economy. A
strong ESA maintains our livelihoods by protecting natural resources,
jobs and strengthening the economy.
The American public overwhelmingly
supports the Endangered Species Act. They know that the Act
keeps us healthy by safeguarding many of the species we rely
on for life-saving medicines to fight cancer and other life-threatening
diseases. It protects yet undiscovered cures for diseases like
HIV-AIDS. The ESA protects forests, which are the lungs of the
earth, purifying our air. It protects wetlands, which are the
kidneys of the earth, filtering our water. A strong Act is an
early warning system--like the canary in the coal mine--identifying
threats to human existence.
Opponents of a strong ESA are
fighting on behalf of a few wealthy corporations, not the people.
They are serious, well-funded and organized. They are a formidable
foe, skilled in the art of deception. They disguise the industry
zealots they represent with coalition names which sound species-friendly.
Among the members of the Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition
in 1993 were: Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation, Chevron
USA and Western States Petroleum Association. Their intent is
to destroy the Endangered Species Act.
Karyn Strickler is former Director of the national
Endangered Species Coalition. You can reach her at fiftyplusone@earthlink.net
.
* Members of the Steering Committee
of the national Endangered Species Coalition 1993-1994 included:
Sierra Club, Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund (now called Earth
Justice), Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society,
The Wilderness Society, Greenpeace, National Wildlife Federation,
Sierra Club, Center for Marine Conservation (advisory status),
Defenders of Wildlife, Humane Society of the United States, the
World Wildlife Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council (advisory
status).
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