Native Plant Conservation Campaign News



Pombo backs down on ESA
Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), chair of the House Resources Committee, has
withdrawn many of the worst parts of his latest attempt to dismantle the
Federal Endangered Species Act. However, he is expected to reintroduce some
of the most damaging proposals later in this congress. News story pasted
below.

Meanwhile Congress is considering at least eight (8) bills to weaken key
provisions of the Act. For more information on this legislation, see the
Endangered Species Coalition's running list of ESA legislation at:
http://www.stopextinction.org/Issues/Issues.cfm?ID=1010&c=31

Further, the Bush Administration is expected soon to announce its intention
to avoid designation of critical habitat for federally listed species
whenever possible. This policy change comes as new analyses of federal
species recovery data suggest that critical habitat designation and
protection may improve the recovery status of federally listed species. More
information on the critical habitat initiative will be sent out after the
Administration's announcement.
_____________________
Emily B. Roberson, Ph.D.
Director
Native Plant Conservation Campaign
1722 J St., Suite 17
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 415 970 0394
E-MAIL: EMILYR@cnps.org
Web: http://www.cnps.org/NPCC
The mission of the NPCC is to promote appreciation and conservation of native plant species and communities through collaboration, education, law, policy, land use and management.
The NPCC is a project of the Center for Biological Diversity and the
California Native Plant Society.

Posted on Wed, May. 28, 2003
Pombo drops push to revise habitat law
By Mike Taugher
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Rep. Richard Pombo has abandoned his attempt to usher in sweeping changes of environmental laws as part of a military spending plan. Pombo, the influential Republican rancher from Tracy, had added provisions to a defense spending bill that would have let federal agencies and private industries escape some requirements to protect endangered species and marine mammals.
The exemptions were sought by the military to allow troops to train unimpeded, but Pombo argued that it made sense to broaden the exemptions. Most of the controversial amendments included by Pombo were removed from the bill before it was debated last week in the House of Representatives.
"The chairman conceded some of the language in the interest of national defense," said Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for the House Resources Committee, which Pombo chairs.
During his committee's consideration of the defense bill, Pombo earlier proposed, then dropped, an even more significant amendment to the Endangered Species Act.
That provision would have made the wildlife protection law apply to federal agencies only to the extent that it did not interfere with the agencies' primary work. Kennedy said Pombo will probably try again to amend the 1973 act, one of the nation's most powerful environmental laws and one that Pombo has regularly attacked.
"We think this (exemptions for the military) can be a benchmark for a 21st-century way of dealing with the (act)," Kennedy said.
The $400 billion defense authorization bill passed last week by the House still contains provisions to make it easier for the military to sidestep some parts of the endangered species law and the Marine Mammals Protection Act.
One exemption would prevent federal biologists from designating Defense Department property as habitat critical to the survival of endangered species if the military develops a land management plan for the area.
Another would allow the military more latitude in bothering sea mammals, making it easier for Navy submarines, for example, to use a new generation of very loud, low-frequency sonar to detect silent submarines.
"We're certainly relieved that the extreme overreach on the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act have been scaled back, but we remain opposed (to the exemptions for the military)," said Mary Beth Beetham, legislative director for Defenders of Wildlife.
A companion bill in the Senate contains no military exemptions to the marine mammal law, and is more limited in the latitude it allows the military under the endangered species law.
Differences between the two versions will be reconciled in the coming weeks in a conference between members of the House and Senate.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/5958574.htm

Report details federal programs that pose environmental threat

The 2003 Green Scissors report was released on May 8. This annual report, prepared by a coalition of environmental, scientific and taxpayers groups, details 68 federally funded programs that threaten our environment, natural heritage and public health at a cost to taxpayers of nearly $60 billion.
The report includes sections on a wide array of issues including forests, roads, water, and public lands.
The Bush administration and the 108th Congress have proposed numerous programs with dubious fiscal and environmental foundations. The report shows the fiscal irresponsibility inherent in many of the federal initiatives that we in the native plant science and conservation community oppose because of their impacts to our flora. For more information on current federal proposals of particular concern to plant scientists and advocates, see the Native Plant Conservation Campaign website: www.cnps.org/NPCC click "Make A
Difference".
The press release for the report is pasted below. Read the full report at
http://www.greenscissors.org/publications/gs2003.pdf
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May 8, 2003
Contact:
Erich Pica, FoE (202)-783-7400 x229
Keith Ashdown, TCS (202) 546-8500 x110
Navin Nayak or Jennifer Mueller, U.S. PIRG, 202-546-9707
Taxpayer and Environmental Coalition Targets $58 Billion In Wasteful, Environmentally Harmful Programs
[Washington, DC] -Sixty-eight federally funded programs that waste $58 billion and damage the environment should be eliminated from the federal budget, according to a report released today by Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).
"Now is a critical time for federal and state budgets," said Erich Pica, senior policy analyst at Friends of the Earth. "It is inconceivable that members of Congress and the administration are actually proposing more handouts to industries that drill and mine our public lands, pollute our air and contaminate our waters."
The Green Scissors 2003 report highlights programs and projects that taxpayer, environmental and consumer organizations agree should be cut to stop wasteful spending that harms the environment. Over the last eight years, $26 billion in environmentally harmful spending programs targeted by the Green Scissors Campaign have been cut or eliminated from the federal budget.
The Green Scissors Campaign calls on Congress to protect the environment and taxpayers as it begins debating the federal budget in the coming weeks.
"With the country facing the worst deficits in history, politicians need to dam the river of red ink," said Aileen Roder, program director at Taxpayers for Common Sense. "By blocking the tracks of the special interest gravy train, we can get our fiscal ship in shape and preserve the environment at the same time."
Among the polluting subsidies in the federal budget targeted by Green Scissors 2003 are:
* The failure of Congress to reauthorize the Superfund tax on polluters. One in four Americans lives within four miles of a Superfund site, but since the Superfund's tax on potential polluters was allowed to expire, the pace of cleanups has dropped off dramatically, while polluting industries enjoy a $4 million-a-day tax break.
* A federal proposal to exempt oil and gas companies from paying royalties to extract public resources. Under Congress' new proposal, the wealthiest and dirtiest companies would be able to drill on public lands for free. States currently receive 50 percent of the fee that corporations pay for extracting oil and gas from federal lands. These royalties have generated more than $3.7 billion for states in the last five years alone and have been an important source of revenue for ailing state budgets.
* The Department of Energy's Fossil Fuel Research and Development programs. These programs are projected to cost taxpayers $1.7 billion over the next five years. As the major source of smog, soot and global warming pollution, the fossil fuel industry is a lethal threat to public health and the environment. The report calls for all subsidies to the coal, oil and gas industries to be cut, thereby protecting taxpayers and public health.
* The Forest Service's wasteful and destructive timber roads construction program. More than 380,000 miles of roads have been built in national forests to subsidize the timber industry. These roads harm water quality, fragment wildlife habitat, disrupt wildlife-migration routes, and destroy scenic beauty. The Forest Service has constructed so many roads that it now faces a $10 billion backlog in needed road maintenance. The Green Scissors Campaign calls for all funding for construction, planning, and design of new timber roads to be cut, saving taxpayers $170 million over five years. The report also calls on the Bush administration to enforce the Roadless Area Conservation Rule to protect 58.5 million acres of national forests. The report includes several controversial programs included in the energy bill currently before the Senate. "The Senate energy bill is based on 19th century energy policy that will cost taxpayers at least twenty billion 21st century dollars and will harm public health well into the next century," said U.S. PIRG Environmental Advocate Navin Nayak. "Senators should protect taxpayers and the environment by opposing this dangerous and expensive energy bill, and by opposing all environmentally harmful taxpayer handouts," he concluded.
You can read the full report at
http://www.greenscissors.org/publications/gs2003.pdf

_____________________
Emily B. Roberson, Ph.D.
Director
Native Plant Conservation Campaign
1722 J St., Suite 17
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 415 970 0394
E-MAIL: EMILYR@cnps.org
Web: http://www.cnps.org/NPCC

The mission of the NPCC is to promote appreciation and conservation of
native plant species and communities through collaboration, education, law,
policy, land use and management.

The NPCC is a project of the Center for Biological Diversity and the
California Native Plant Society.

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