hello tweets,

bad news for any living thing that isn't a god-fearing white american.
see below ....

Deborah Wisti-Peterson, PhD Candidate nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
Love the creator? Then protect the creation.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 12 Apr 2001 12:00:48 -0700
Subject: Endangered Species Proposal Targeted

http://library.northernlight.com/ED20010411910000058.html?cb=3D0&dx=3D1006&=
sc=3D0#doc

Title: Endangered Species Proposal Targeted

Summary: WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats invoked the threat of a
filibuster Wednesday as a possible way to defeat legislation sought
by President Bush that would limit the ability of environmental groups
to get rare plants and animals added to the government's list of
endangered species.

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Source: AP Online
Date: 04/11/2001 21:21

Endangered Species Proposal Targeted

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Story Filed: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 9:21 PM EDT


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats invoked the threat of a filibuster Wednesday
as a possible way to defeat legislation sought by President Bush that
would limit the ability of environmental groups to get rare plants and
animals added to the government's list of endangered species.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said ``any and all'' legislative tactics are
being considered to thwart the proposal outlined in Bush's budget
submitted to Congress on Monday.

Filibusters have become the parliamentary tactic of choice in recent
years because they require at least 60 votes in the Senate -- now divided
50-50 between the two parties -- to bring a measure to either final
passage or rejection.

The budget provision proposed by Bush for the fiscal year starting
Oct. 1 still would permit citizens and environmental groups to bring
the sort of lawsuits that have largely set the Interior Department's
agenda in listing endangered and threatened species lists.

But it would cap at $8.46 million the department's budget for responding
to those suits and give department officials more discretion in
determining which species and ``critical habitat'' areas should be
addressed first under the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

Now, there are 507 animals and 736 plants on the department's endangered
list; a backlog of almost 250 candidate species is under review.

As of Friday, Fish and Wildlife Service officials were contending with
76 lawsuits focused on more than 400 species. They also have been served
with notices of 95 more lawsuits affecting 600 species, agency spokesman
Mitch Snow said.

``This is an effort to try to bring some balance back into our listing
budget so we will be able to do high-priority listing actions,'' said
Hugh Vickery, the agency's spokesman on the endangered species program.

Developers, industry and government agencies themselves long have
complained that environmental groups use the endangered species law to
tie up projects like dams and airport expansions in lengthy reviews.

Interior officials say their hand will be strengthened in court by being
able to argue that Congress has given lower priority to designating
``critical habitats'' that effectively bar the areas from any development.

``We can't help the creatures that need the most help because we're busy
responding to court orders,'' Interior spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna said.
``Is a judge the right one to decide, or a biologist?''

The department says in the budget request that it expects the situation
to worsen next year and that the proposed language ``will assist in
moving toward a rational system.''

The budget request would provide nearly $112 million for Fish and Wildlife
endangered species programs, a cut of $9.1 million from last year.



On the Net:

Fish and Wildlife endangered species program: http://endangered.fws.gov



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