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Brigantine, NJ --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), the ranking Democrat on the House Fisheries and Oceans Subcommittee, visited the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine today to assail House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo's (R-CA) attempts to gut the Endangered Species Act. The New Jersey congressman is leading House efforts to oppose Pombo's plans. Pallone was joined at the news conference by Robert Schoelkopf, the Center's Director, Pete Dunn of the New Jersey Audubon Society and Dennis Schvejda of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
The Endangered Species Act was signed into law in 1973 with the intention of stopping the impending extinction of various plants and animals, and bringing them back to healthy populations. Since 1973, 99-percent of the species listed still exist today. Moreover, more than two-thirds of the listed species are improving. Two of the major success stories have been the bald eagle, which was moved from "endangered" to "threatened" in 1995, and the peregrine falcon, which was removed from the endangered species list in 1999.
"Here at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, they see the need for a strong Endangered Species Act to protect some of the most endangered marine creatures on the planet, including Ridley's sea turtles, humpback whales, and the right and blue whales," Pallone said. "These are the species that in many cases have long life cycles and will take a long time to recover back to healthy populations. Without the critical safety net provided by the Act, many of these creatures would simply be gone."
Pombo has floated several troubling provisions that would seriously undermine the Act. The first idea would only characterize species as endangered if they are scarce worldwide, rather than scarce here in the U.S. Another idea would add another layer to the bureaucracy, under the guise of "sound science." Pallone said that rather than strengthening the Act, this would simply make the entire process more cumbersome. A third proposal would make it more difficult to designate "critical habitat" the open space that must be preserved in order to keep a particular species alive.
Pallone disagrees with claims made by Pombo that the Act blocks development across the country and has not achieved its purpose of recovering species back to healthy populations. Pallone said Pombo's rhetoric is merely an attempt to eliminate the federal government's responsibility to protect endangered species and maintain healthy ecosystems.
"In Washington, we're hearing a lot about how the Endangered Species Act is broken and is not achieving its original purpose. I'm here to say that the so-called voices of reform are wrong---the law is a major success story. That's why I'm working in Washington to oppose the efforts of Chairman Pombo and other Republicans to rip out the heart of the Act," Pallone concluded. |
