[NormsRevenge]

Too bad this doesn't cover heterosexuals too.

Next session. ;-)

[NormsRevenge]

Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater, second from left, answers a question concerning a measure to revise the Endangered Species Act, that he and Congressmen Greg Walden, R-Oregon, left, George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, second from right, and Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, right, introduced, during a Capitol news conference held in Sacramento,Calif., Monday, Sept. 19, 2005. Calling it the Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005, the authors say the measure will eliminate endless lawsuits filed over the ESAand work to improve populations so that species can be removed from the endangered list. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

[Southack]

Outstanding!

[w1andsodidwe]

The bill sets a "dangerous precedent that private individuals must be paid to comply with an environmental law," said Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia, the committee's top Democrat.

"What's next? Paying citizens to wear seat belts? ... This bill will not improve species' ability to recover," he said.

How is paying to people to wear seat belts comparable to paying people when you take land away from the owners control to save some toad?

[hombre_sincero]

Endangered Species Act: Endangers Homo Sapien


ESA Reform Bill [TESRA - H.R. 2834] Is A Step Backward
James Buchal - September 23, 2005

The latest attempt to reform the Endangered Species Act (the Act), H.R. 3824, titled "The Threatened and Endangered Species Reform Act," or TESRA, contains positive features.

However, this bill would make Section 7 of the Act even worse. This Section of the Act looms above all others for the carnage it has caused throughout the West.

Section 7 of the Act declares that federal agencies must avoid taking action that would "jeopardize the continued existence of listed species."

Lawsuits filed under Section 7 are responsible for exterminating small timber operators (owls), Klamath Basin farmers (suckers), doubling electricity rates in the Pacific Northwest (salmon), and creating countless other poster children for Endangered Species Act reform.*

Once upon a time, the meaning of "jeopardize the continued existence of" was clear: Congress wanted to make sure that agencies did not exterminate a listed species.

If an agency did wish to take action that would do so, the agency would have to get an exemption from the "God Squad."

It was called the "God Squad" because the premise was that, if an exemption were given, the species would be exterminated. Other parts of the Act call for recovery plans for listed species, but Congress wisely recognized that some federal actions might have to proceed -- whether or not they impeded the recovery of listed species.

Pombo's bill changes Section 7 by adding a definition of "jeopardize the continued existence of" to the Act:

"The action reasonably would be expected to significantly impede, directly or indirectly, the conservation in the long-term of the species in the wild."

This is a radical departure from the simple concept of not wiping species off the face of the earth.

Under H.R. 3824, any and all federal agency actions must now cease if they are deemed to "significantly impede" "conservation" -- even "indirectly".

From a definition already in the Act, we know that "conservation" means "the use of all methods and procedures which are necessary to bring any endangered species or threatened species to the point at which the measures provided pursuant to this Act are no longer necessary."

In other words, "conservation" means doing everything necessary to fully recover listed species to the point where they can be removed from the list of protected species.

If the Pombo bill passes, the question will no longer be whether federal agencies threaten to exterminate an entire species; the question will be whether or not what they do is would "directly or indirectly" impede the conservation programs of the fish and wildlife agencies.

In a context where those agencies are infested with biologists who are eager to spend countless dollars to save a single fish or rodent, almost any use of public resources (other than paying said biologists) can -- and will be -- characterized as "significantly impeding" conservation.

The inevitable result of Pombo's bill is that environmentalists will have a much more powerful tool for shutting down any federal agency action with which they disagree.

To make matters worse, the Pombo bill removes the "God Squad" from the Act entirely, so that now -- when federal judges issue crazy Endangered Species Act injunctions http://www.buchal.com/salmon/news/nf84.htm -- the people of the United States will be utterly powerless to stop them through their elected representatives.

It is true that we haven't elected anyone with the courage to actually convene the God Squad in a long time, but why on earth would anyone remove this safety valve from the Act?

Representative Pombo and Walden may not have fully considered the implications of their changes, but the meager benefits of their bill pale beside the larger harm these problems promise.

If this is an innocent mistake, they should be willing to revise the bill to remove these changes to Section 7.

If not, the bill should be killed on the floor.

---

*Almost none of these animals were genuinely endangered, and Pombo's bill does nothing to solve the fundamental problem of bogus listings. Indeed, the bill arguably makes it harder to get rid of bogus listings -- because "fundamental error" may now be required instead of mere "error."

You have permission to reprint this article, and are encouraged to do so. The sooner people figure out what's going on, the quicker we'll have more fish in the rivers.

Copyright 2005, James Buchal.

http://www.buchal.com/salmon/news/nf87.htm

Recommended, researched additional reading:

The full text of TESRA, H.R. 2834

http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/issues/more/esa/TESRA/hr3824.pdf

The first Internet location of the leaked TESRA draft (June 28, 2005):

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/Programs/policy/esa/Pombo-summary.pdf

Its press release (same date):

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/pombo6-28-05.html

The first Internet location of the current TESRA bill (September 15, 2005):

Pombo's own section by section analysis of his bill

Its press release (same date):

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/pombo9-15-05.html

The Many Facets of The Endangered Species Act (updated version)

http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/articles6/many_facets_of_the_endangered_sp.htm

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (full text):

http://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa.html

The CITES (Convention on International Trade in Threatened Species of Wild Flora and Fauna) treaty

http://www.cites.org/eng/disc/text.shtml

[Issaquahking]

Hit the ping lists! America may be starting to awaken! Perhaps the return of common sense is trying to make a comeback, and that reality may be just that!

Enviro-whacks go home!!!

The adults are in motion now.

[goldstategop]

To the Left, only the government can protect the environment. Private property owners are viewed as an obstacle to keeping the earth green. In reality, the goal is socialism. The government owns and manages "the commons" for the benefit of the elite.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[ncountylee]

"helping keep the bald eagle from extinction"

This is another big lie. There are places in British Columbia and Alaska that bald eagles are so plentiful that they are almost pests. There is zero threat of extinction.

[Carry_Okie]

There are many important improvements in this bill. There are also some serious problems.

Endangered Species Act [TESRA - HR 2834] A Step Backward

[konaice]

The bill sets a "dangerous precedent that private individuals must be paid to comply with an environmental law," said Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia, the committee's top Democrat.

Typical Democrat thinking:

We can do anything to you as long as we attribut it to protecting the environment, or saving the children, or some other sob-story cause. Why take property and compensate when you can just prevent any use and still collect taxes on it?

[hattend]

BTTT

[AmericanArchConservative]

Return of common sense to public policy PING!

Socking it to the greenweenies!

A.A.C.

[Lancey Howard]

bttt

[v. crow]

"You've got to pay when you take away somebody's private property. That is what we have to do," Pombo told House colleagues. "The only way this is going to work is if we bring in property owners to be part of the solution and to be part of recovering those species."

This simple common-sense assertion is a sight to behold in a Congress infamous for irresponsible thinking and ridiculous reasoning.

The Democrat with a stupid statement about seat belts that isn't worth repeating just does not get it. He think he has the power and moral authority to arbitrarily dictate my behavior, especially in regards to my property. Of course you have to compensate me for preventing me from the use of my property, you imbecile! He is an ugly and evil person.

I doubt that this is large handouts in disguise to property owners. The monetary compensation is the reasonable result of emminent domain protection. It provides a significant disincentive to the government for barring me from the use of my land.

This is an attractive model for zoning law reforms.

[Savage Beast]

If the "environmentalists" are for it, oppose it. If they're against it, support it.

And never give one penny to an "environmentalist charity".

[Sunnyflorida]

I'm hoping somebody takes the Florida manatee off the list. The ESL should be reserved for native species. The manatees that live in Florida now are descendants of a food source introduced into Florida when Spained owned Florida.

The are used by leftists in the State to take private property rights without due process.

[NormsRevenge]

Save Our Species Alliance Congratulates U.S. House on Updating And Modernizing Endangered Species Act

To: National Desk

Contact: Tom Randall of Save Our Species Alliance, 773-857-5086 or trandall@winningreen.com

GOLDEN, Colo., Sept. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- With Democrats contributing 36 "yes" votes, the U.S. House passed the first substantive improvements in the Endangered Species Act since it first became law 31 years ago.

The measure, the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act (TESRA) was the culmination of an effort, led by Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA), and Dennis Cardoza (D- CA) to improve the recovery rate of endangered and threatened species while making the process fairer for landowners.

"During the debate, the entire House of Representatives seemed to agree the ESA is in need of updates and improvements," Pombo said. It's incredible how far we have come.

"What surprised me most today," Pombo added, "was the strong ideological differences about whether or not homeowners should be compensated when their property is taken, as the fifth amendment of the Constitution requires. Upholding this right and partnering with the landowner is the only way we are going to improve the ESA's failing result for recovery. This legislation does just that."

Pombo noted that during the life of the 31-year-old Act just 10 of approximately 1300species listed as threatened or endangered have recovered sufficiently to be de-listed.

Major improvements made by TESRA include mandatory requirements for science-based recovery plans when a species is listed as threatened or endangered. It also provides for incentives for voluntary conservation efforts by private property owners and compensation for value lost from restrictions on land use. Some criticized compensating landowners as being too costly but the Congressional Budget Office predicted those costs would be quite modest.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

[GreenFreeper]

ECO-PING

[marsh2]

I have a copy of the bill, but have been so busy I haven't thoroughly read it. Does it do anything to reverse the SCOTUS interpretation that "habitat modification" that could impair a vital function of the species - such as feeding, reproducing, sheltering - constituted a prohibited "take" under the Act - requiring an incidental take permit. The damned ITP and Habitat Conservation Plan was where the feds exhorted life and limb from the applicant in perpetuity.

[newzjunkey]

A re-write is overdue. Let's hope it's a good one.

[traviskicks]

Some news stories on abuses by environemnetalists:

http://www.neoperspectives.com/environment.htm


'Ranchers revenge' and the jumping mouse one (it didn't exist!) are good.