|
Become a friend of the Klamath Bucket Brigade All donations are tax deductible |
|
This Website is Dedicated to Alvin Alexander Cheyne January 10, 1921 - June 17, 2005 |
Democrats
move to protect species act
Dicks
warns Interior Department against 'end run' changes
By CHARLES POPE
P-I
The quick and unambiguous
response came one day after reports that the Interior Department has
been working for months to reinterpret the 1973 law in a way that
environmentalists said would gut the primary tool for protecting plants
and animals on the verge of extinction.
The Bush administration
and some Republicans have been working for years to change the act,
which they say is onerous and overly expensive for landowners. At each
step, however, Congress has blocked the changes.
The new approach would
change the law unilaterally by changing the way it is interpreted. Those
changes surfaced in a 117-page document and in departmental memos that
discuss ways to restrict the law without needing congressional approval.
Dicks, who spoke
Wednesday with Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, said he was
especially concerned by a proposal that would require extra protection
only in areas where endangered species are found.
That would significantly
narrow protections because current practice includes habitat that
historically supported a species, even if that species no longer lives
there.
"If you're only
going to protect it in its current range, it's an incentive to
unscrupulous people to minimize the range," Dicks said he told
Kempthorne.
Any change to the law
would have significant consequences in the
Officials with the
Interior Department and the Fish and Wildlife Service echoed Kempthorne,
saying the documents were drafts and not decisions that have been made.
Even so, environmental
groups criticized the proposals, saying they would allow the Army Corps
of Engineers and the Bonneville Power Administration, among others, to
sidestep a 2005 federal court ruling that limited the amount of water
that could pour through
"This latest attack
by the administration makes recovery all but impossible for salmon and
steelhead in the
Another proposed change
would narrow when species can be considered in danger of extinction.
Currently, that is interpreted as the statute directs some time "in
the foreseeable future." The draft papers suggest a more specific
timetable of 20 years for some species and a specific number of
generations for others, said Jan Hasselman, a
Other changes would allow
logging, development and other projects even if those activities
threaten a species but stop short of "hastening" its
extinctions. The proposal also calls for states to have greater
authority over protecting species.
Dicks said he told
Kempthorne that the changes being considered are major and shouldn't be
enacted without Congress' imprint.
"I told him we don't
want to see a lot of things changed by rule," he said, adding that
he told Kempthorne, "If you're going to change the law send up a
bill."
Hasselman noted that many
of the proposals were included in past legislation that was defeated.
"Congress refused to
endorse these concepts repeatedly over the last 12 years," he said.
What Interior is trying,
he said, "is an end run around the will of Congress and the views
and values of
Dicks said Kempthorne
told him that the proposals were in their early form and that final
decisions about how to change the law have not been made.
Dicks also said that
Kempthorne promised to keep Congress fully informed as the process
evolves.
At the same time, "I
wanted to lay down a marker today," Dicks said.
P-I
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those
who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for
non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go
to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/309351_species29.html