Friday
February 23, 2007
U.S. Senator Wayne Allard
Cosponsors Bill to Reform the Endangered Species Act
Source: US Senator Wayne Allard
“I have been a longtime supporter of making improvements to the Endangered Species Act, which has only posted a species recovery record of less than 1 percent since its enactment in 1973,” said Allard. “We are grabbing species on the brink of extinction and leaving them there. We protect species, but fail to make the next logical, and perhaps more important, step: help them recover so they are no longer endangered.”
This bill would make a number of improvements to the Endangered Species Act by establishing minimum requirements for a listing petition, including an analysis of the status of the species and its range, population trends and threats; require better science for listing decisions, such as field tested and peer reviewed data; and require notice to states of possible listings and public hearings.
Once a species is listed, this bill would require the U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary to verify that sufficient biological data exists to support recovery planning and require a recovery plan to be published at the time a species is listed. When these recovery criteria are met, a species will be automatically de-listed.
The bill was introduced by U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas of Wyoming and is also cosponsored by U.S. Sens. Larry Craig of Idaho, Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.
The Endangered Species Reform Act of 2007 was referred to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works.
Contact:
Laura Condeluci (202) 224-5944
Steve Wymer (202) 224-6207