CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
BECAUSE LIFE IS GOOD

Protecting endangered species and wild places through
science, policy, education, and environmental law.

September 29, 2005

Kieran Suckling (520) 275-5960

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES GUTS ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
Party Line Vote Will Result in Hundreds of Extinctions
Moderate Republicans Rebuffed

In a 229 to 193 vote, falling largely along party lines, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill today undermining the U.S. Endangered Species Act. 34 Republicans voted against the bill, 36 Democrats voted for it.

The Endangered Species Act protects 1,300 of America's most endangered plants and animals. Originally created in 1973, it has a saved over 99% of these species from extinction including the Bald Eagle, Grizzly Bear, Gray Wolf, Sea Otter, and Grizzly Bear. It has also lived up to its mission to "protect the ecosystems upon which endangered species depend" by preserving over 200 million acres of essential wildlife habitat from Hawaii to Maine.

Cynically entitled the "Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005" by it author, Richard Pombo (R-CA), the bill systematically removes every proven recovery tool from the Endangered Species Act.

"This bill takes a wrecking ball to our nation's most important wildlife protection law," said Kieran Suckling, policy director of the Center for Biological Diversity. "The Endangered Species Act is the safety net for America's imperiled plants and animals. The Republican dominated House of Representatives have ripped it apart, consigning God's creation to extinction."

A valiant effort to save the Endangered Species Act was fought by both Democrats and Republicans. The Center for Biological Diversity especially thanks: Jim Saxton (R-NJ), Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), George Miller (D-CA), Nick Rahall (D-WV), Tom Udall, (D-NM), Jay Inslee (D-WA), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Raul Grijalva (D-AZ).

Summary of the Bill

- Undermines Species Recovery. Richard Pombo (R-CA) garnered involvement by some environmental groups and Democrats by promising to strengthen protection and recovery standards. At each step in the process of finalizing the bill, however, he reduced protections. The day of the final vote, he pushed through an amendment to completely eliminate the nominal protections he had offered in earlier versions.

"Pombo played a cynical game of bait-and-switch," said Suckling. "He brought people in with false promises, announced the support of environmental groups to the nation, and then systematically stripped every protection clause from his bill."

- Eliminates Habitat Protection. It eliminates all existing and future critical habitat protections—over 200 million acres of habitat protections for species such as the Northern spotted owl, Right whale, Peninsular big horn sheep, Steller sea lion, and desert tortoise. Critical habitat is one of the most successful provisions of the Endangered Species Act: species with critical habitat are recovering twice as fast as species without it.

"Habitat destruction is the main cause of extinction," said Suckling. "This bill sends conservation back to the stone age. It eliminates the most important, most scientifically-based, most successful approach to protecting ecosystems."

- Exempts Pesticides from Environmental Review. In a stunning blow to America's system of checks and balances, the bill exempts the production and spraying of pesticides from review under the Endangered Species Act.

"At a time when deformed frogs are being found in lakes and rivers across the nation, it is a dangerous travesty to exempt pesticides from environmental review," said Suckling.

- Politicizes Science. The bill replaces the Endangered Species Act focus on using only the "best available science" and relying on scientists to define what is best, with a completely political system: it allows the Secretary of Interior, a political appointee, to define what science should and should not be used.

- Diverts the Nation's Environmental Budget to Corporations. Pombo's bill takes the Fish and Wildlife Service's budget hostage by allowing corporations to reap hundreds of millions of dollars by simply asserting that they have been harmed by endangered species protections. The Department of Interior will then have to pay the corporations for their speculative "foregone" profits out of the budget established for America's national parks, wildlife refuges, and endangered species.

"The takings provision of the bill is litigation magnet," said Suckling, "even the White House budget office concluded that it will dramatically increase corporate lawsuits against the Department of Interior at an enormous cost to the American tax payer."


FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 506

(Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined)


      H R 3824      RECORDED VOTE      29-Sep-2005      5:12 PM
      QUESTION:  On Passage
      BILL TITLE: Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act

 

Ayes

Noes

PRES

NV

Republican

193

34

 

3

Democratic

36

158

 

8

Independent

 

1

 

 

TOTALS

229

193

 

11

 

---- AYES    229 ---

 

Abercrombie
Baca
Barrow
Berry
Bishop (GA)
Boren
Boyd
Cardoza
Costa
Costello
Cramer
Crenshaw
Cubin
Cuellar
Cunningham
Davis (AL)
Davis (KY)
Davis (TN)
Davis, Jo Ann
Deal (GA)
DeLay
Dent
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Doolittle
Drake
Dreier
Duncan
Edwards
Emerson
English (PA)
Everett
Feeney
Flake
Forbes
Ford
Fortenberry
Fossella
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Gallegly

Garrett (NJ)
Gibbons
Gillmor
Gingrey
Gohmert
Goode
Goodlatte
Granger
Graves
Green (WI)
Gutknecht
Hall
Harris
Hart
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Hayworth
Hefley
Hensarling
Herger
Herseth
Hinojosa
Hoekstra
Holden
Hostettler
Hulshof
Hunter
Hyde
Inglis (SC)
Issa
Istook
Jenkins
Jindal
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Keller
Kennedy (MN)
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kline
Knollenberg
Kolbe
Kuhl (NY)
Latham
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Lucas
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mack
Manzullo
Marchant
Marshall
Matheson
McCaul (TX)
McCotter
McCrery
McHenry
McHugh
McIntyre
McKeon
McMorris
Melancon
Mica
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller, Gary
Mollohan
Moran (KS)
Murphy
Murtha
Musgrave
Myrick
Neugebauer
Ney
Northup

Norwood
Nunes
Nussle
Ortiz
Osborne
Otter
Oxley
Pearce
Pence
Peterson (MN)
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pickering
Pitts
Poe
Pombo
Pomeroy
Porter
Price (GA)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Radanovich
Regula
Rehberg
Renzi
Reynolds
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Ross
Royce
Ryan (WI)
Ryun (KS)
Salazar
Schmidt
Scott (GA)
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Sherwood
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Skelton
Smith (TX)
Sodrel
Souder
Stearns
Sullivan
Sweeney
Tancredo
Tanner
Taylor (MS)
Taylor (NC)
Terry
Thomas
Thompson (MS)
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Turner
Walden (OR)
Wamp
Weldon (FL)
Weller
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Wicker
Wilson (NM)
Wilson (SC)
Wynn
Young (AK)
Young (FL)

 

---- NOES    193 ---

 

Ackerman
Allen
Andrews
Baird
Baldwin
Bass
Bean
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Biggert
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Boehlert
Boucher
Bradley (NH)
Brady (PA)
Brown (OH)
Brown, Corrine
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Cardin
Carnahan
Carson
Case
Castle
Chandler
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Conyers
Cooper
Crowley
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
Davis, Tom
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Doyle
Ehlers
Emanuel
Engel
Eshoo
Etheridge
Evans
Farr
Ferguson
Filner
Fitzpatrick (PA)
Foley
Frank (MA)
Frelinghuysen
Gerlach
Gilchrest
Gonzalez
Gordon
Green, Al
Green, Gene

Grijalva
Hastings (FL)
Higgins
Hinchey
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Hoyer
Inslee
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, E. B.
Jones (OH)
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kelly
Kennedy (RI)
Kildee
Kilpatrick (MI)
Kind
Kirk
Kucinich
LaHood
Langevin
Lantos
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
LaTourette
Leach
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lynch
Maloney
Markey
Matsui
McCarthy
McCollum (MN)
McDermott
McGovern
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Michaud
Millender-McDonald
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Moore (KS)
Moore (WI)
Moran (VA)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal (MA)
Oberstar
Obey

Olver
Owens
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Pelosi
Platts
Price (NC)
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Reichert
Reyes
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Sabo
Sánchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sanders
Saxton
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schwartz (PA)
Schwarz (MI)
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Shaw
Shays
Sherman
Simmons
Slaughter
Smith (NJ)
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis
Spratt
Stark
Strickland
Stupak
Tauscher
Thompson (CA)
Tierney
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Upton
Van Hollen
Velázquez
Visclosky
Walsh
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Weldon (PA)
Wexler
Wolf
Woolsey
Wu

---- NOT VOTING    11 ---

Boswell
Culberson
Davis (FL)
Fattah

Gutierrez
Harman
Hobson
Lee

Paul
Payne
Towns

(end)


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