lawyerlee
03-09-2006, 05:53 PM
Is yet another attack on science on its way? :(
Senate Urged to Safeguard Species Act (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/03/08/national/w170259S53.DTL&type=printable)
San Francisco Chronicle
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, March 9, 2006
WASHINGTON, (AP) --
As a Senate committee prepares to take up revisions to the Endangered Species Act, nearly 6,000 biologists from around the country signed a letter Wednesday urging senators to preserve scientific protections in the landmark law.
The House passed an Endangered Species Act rewrite last year that many scientists and environmentalists viewed as extreme. Interest groups are lobbying to ensure that legislation expected soon from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will be an improvement.
"Unfortunately, recent legislative proposals would critically weaken" the law's scientific foundation, said the letter organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The 5,738 signers included six National Medal of Science recipients.
"For species conservation to continue, it is imperative both that the scientific principles embodied in the act are maintained, and that the act is strengthened, fully implemented, and adequately funded."
The House bill, written by Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., would require the government to compensate property owners if steps needed to protect species thwart development plans. It also would stop the government from designating "critical habitat" where development is limited.
Scientists are particularly concerned about how science is handled, including a provision that would give the interior secretary the job of determining what constitutes appropriate scientific data for decision-making under the law.
Hidden ties: Big environmental changes backed by big industry (http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2006/mar/policy/pt_bigindustry.html)
Lobbyists and industry officials who once pushed for the president’s Healthy Forests legislation now collaborate with Rep. Pombo to alter the Endangered Species Act.
Environmental Science & Technology News
Since President Bush took office, Republicans have successfully pushed through major reforms that target regulations for power-plant emissions and the management of federal forests. During his 2004 campaign for reelection, the president praised his Healthy Forests initiative as “a good, common-sense policy.” This year, the Republican-led Congress is gearing up for yet another “common-sense” reform to a major piece of environmental legislation—the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Critics of these reforms charge that they are little more than giveaways to the affected industries and note that the changes enacted with the Healthy Forests legislation limit citizens’ ability to appeal logging sales on federal lands and emphasize cutting trees to prevent fires. However, the reformers point to support by “grassroots” groups as a sign that these changes are popular with citizens and not just industry.
ES&T has examined in detail one short-lived “grassroots” environmental organization that was based in Oregon—a state with vast forests and species-rich ecosystems. The leading figures in this group played a key role in passing President Bush’s Healthy Forests legislation and are now promoting changes to ESA. From dozens of interviews and reviews of thousands of pages of documents, ES&T has found clear evidence that this “grassroots” organization has clear ties to timber corporations—an industry likely to benefit financially from legislative reforms.
Senate Urged to Safeguard Species Act (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/03/08/national/w170259S53.DTL&type=printable)
San Francisco Chronicle
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, March 9, 2006
WASHINGTON, (AP) --
As a Senate committee prepares to take up revisions to the Endangered Species Act, nearly 6,000 biologists from around the country signed a letter Wednesday urging senators to preserve scientific protections in the landmark law.
The House passed an Endangered Species Act rewrite last year that many scientists and environmentalists viewed as extreme. Interest groups are lobbying to ensure that legislation expected soon from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will be an improvement.
"Unfortunately, recent legislative proposals would critically weaken" the law's scientific foundation, said the letter organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The 5,738 signers included six National Medal of Science recipients.
"For species conservation to continue, it is imperative both that the scientific principles embodied in the act are maintained, and that the act is strengthened, fully implemented, and adequately funded."
The House bill, written by Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., would require the government to compensate property owners if steps needed to protect species thwart development plans. It also would stop the government from designating "critical habitat" where development is limited.
Scientists are particularly concerned about how science is handled, including a provision that would give the interior secretary the job of determining what constitutes appropriate scientific data for decision-making under the law.
Hidden ties: Big environmental changes backed by big industry (http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2006/mar/policy/pt_bigindustry.html)
Lobbyists and industry officials who once pushed for the president’s Healthy Forests legislation now collaborate with Rep. Pombo to alter the Endangered Species Act.
Environmental Science & Technology News
Since President Bush took office, Republicans have successfully pushed through major reforms that target regulations for power-plant emissions and the management of federal forests. During his 2004 campaign for reelection, the president praised his Healthy Forests initiative as “a good, common-sense policy.” This year, the Republican-led Congress is gearing up for yet another “common-sense” reform to a major piece of environmental legislation—the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Critics of these reforms charge that they are little more than giveaways to the affected industries and note that the changes enacted with the Healthy Forests legislation limit citizens’ ability to appeal logging sales on federal lands and emphasize cutting trees to prevent fires. However, the reformers point to support by “grassroots” groups as a sign that these changes are popular with citizens and not just industry.
ES&T has examined in detail one short-lived “grassroots” environmental organization that was based in Oregon—a state with vast forests and species-rich ecosystems. The leading figures in this group played a key role in passing President Bush’s Healthy Forests legislation and are now promoting changes to ESA. From dozens of interviews and reviews of thousands of pages of documents, ES&T has found clear evidence that this “grassroots” organization has clear ties to timber corporations—an industry likely to benefit financially from legislative reforms.