Republicans Seek Less Species Protection

A Republican-drafted congressional bill seeks to abolish the Endangered Species Act and limit the government’s environmental obligations.

The legislation was prepared by the Republican staff of the House Resources Committee, and would sunset the ESA by 2015. It also would exempt many federal actions that are now subject to review, and require the authority to list subgroups of a species of fish or wildlife as endangered only sparingly.

Jamie Rappaport Clark, the executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife, told the New York Times the draft takes a wrecking ball to the whole Endangered Species Act by changing its mission, disabling enforcement tools and loosening controls on agencies like the Forest Service and the Army Corps of Engineers.

But Jim Sims of Partnership for the West, a group representing Western ranchers and industries, said the bill is more practical approach to conservation.

It’s more important to incrementally improve the species’ health as much as we can rather than set the bar at total and complete recovery, and nothing else, he said.