March, 18 2010, 03:13pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Lauren Wright, Food & Water Watch, (202) 683-2500, lwright@fwwatch.org
Congressional Catch Share Hearing a Step Forward in Agency Accountability; Further Action is Needed to Protect Marine Resources, Fishermen and Consumers
Statement of Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter
WASHINGTON
"Wednesday's Congressional oversight hearing on catch share programs, which are a market-based approach to share access to the public's valuable fish resources, represented an important step forward in reviewing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's hurried application of this controversial management tool for U.S. fisheries. The beleaguered agency has been responsible for creating serious breaches of the public's trust on issues related to its enforcement of federal fisheries laws (as revealed in a House oversight committee hearing earlier this month). It must similarly be held accountable for its 'cart before the horse' approach to catch shares. While the oversight hearings were a great first step towards addressing the highly contested issue of catch shares, we call on Congress to continue to turn up the heat on NOAA and its approach to managing U.S. fisheries.
" Food & Water Watch commends Rep. DeFazio (D-Ore.) for raising issues regarding the privatization of a public resource and the socio-economic impacts of catch shares. We also appreciate that he pointed out the fact that if proper safeguards are not considered in the planning phase, privatized quotas could, in the foreseeable future, become a source of profit for Wall Street.
During the hearing, Representatives Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) and Christensen (D-Virgin Islands) raised issues about potential job losses for small family fishermen through industry consolidation. Representatives Brown (D-S.C.) and Cassidy (R-La.) pointed out that recreational fishermen from their districts have been left out of the design process entirely. Finally, Rep. Capps (D-CA.) expressed the general sentiment, shared by many, that Congress will need several more oversight hearings to address these numerous unresolved issues.
"Catch shares can be designed in a way that supports jobs, coastal communities, consumer preferences, and real environmental and management gains. To date, NOAA has done the opposite. It has designed catch share programs to limit access to only a handful of companies and individuals. Consequently, thousands of smaller-scale and traditional fishermen have lost their jobs as the industry consolidates in the hands of a few big players. Remarkably, the agency doesn't even allow the public access to information about the catch share transactions within such programs, such as how money is being spent or who is being given access to our fish resources."
"Currently, NOAA is so off course that it is redirecting taxpayer dollars, from the advancement of the science required to better manage U.S. fish resources towards the pursuit of further privatization of public assets. The first thing Congress needs to do is disapprove this misguided budget. Thankfully, several members at yesterday's hearing took issue with the agency's proposed 2011 budget's diversion of $54 million away from science and research for stock assessments to catch share programs. Chairwoman Bordallo (D-Guam) captured the mood well by noting that many members were concerned that NOAA's "push for catch shares...is coming at the expense of these other management responsibilities and fundamental data needs."
"NOAA is using catch shares inappropriately. Rather than designing them to promote sustainable fisheries and local seafood, it is forging ahead nationwide with an agenda of more industrialized fishing, teamed up with industrial fish farms. Unbelievably, the oversight hearing today did not include a single fisherman or consumer. Congress needs to know that NOAA is a mess and the public demands better."
"Food & Water Watch opposes any push to privatize access to public fish resources. We support continued public management of fish resources and expect the federal government, when applicable, to rent catch shares directly to eligible entities and to use the rental revenue for better ocean management. This means fair fixed-term access to fish and a system that benefits the fishermen, the environment and the broader community."
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
(202) 683-2500LATEST NEWS
Once Again, Tom Cotton Blocks Bill to Shield Journalists From Betraying Sources
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Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas on Tuesday again blocked the passage of House-approved bipartisan legislation meant to shield journalists and telecommunications companies from being compelled to disclose sources and other information to federal authorities.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) brought the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying (PRESS) Act—which would prohibit the federal government from forcing journalists and telecom companies to disclose certain information, with exceptions for terroristic or violent threats—for a unanimous consent vote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued Tuesday that passing the PRESS Act is "more important now than ever before when we've heard some in the previous administration talk about going after the press in one way or another," a reference to Republican President-elect Donald Trump's threats to jail journalists who refuse to reveal the sources of leaks. Trump, who has referred to the press as the "enemy of the people," repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to "kill this bill."
Cotton, who blocked a vote on the legislation in December 2022, again objected to the bill, a move that thwarted its speedy passage. The Republican called the legislation a "threat to national security" and "the biggest giveaway to the liberal press in American history."
The advocacy group Defending Rights and Dissent lamented that "Congress has abdicated their responsibility to take substantive steps to protect the constitutional right to a free press."
However, Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, noted ways in which Senate Democrats can still pass the PRESS Act before Republicans gain control of the upper chamber next month:
Senate Democrats had all year to move this bipartisan bill and now time is running out. Leader Schumer needs to get the PRESS Act into law—whether by attaching it to a year-end legislative package or bringing it to the floor on its own—even if it means shortening lawmakers' holiday break. Hopefully, today was a preview of more meaningful action to come.
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Antitrust advocates on Tuesday welcomed a pair of court rulings against the proposed merger of grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons, which was challenged by Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and multiple state attorneys general.
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"This victory has a direct, tangible impact on the lives of millions of Americans who shop at Kroger or Albertsons-owned grocery stores for their everyday needs, whether that's a Fry's in Arizona, a Vons in Southern California, or a Jewel-Osco in Illinois," he added. "This is also a victory for thousands of hardworking union employees, protecting their hard-earned paychecks by ensuring Kroger and Albertsons continue to compete for workers through higher wages, better benefits, and improved working conditions."
While Liu was celebrating the preliminary injunction from Oregon-based U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson, later Tuesday, King County Superior Court Judge Marshall Ferguson released a ruling that blocked the merger in Washington state.
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Advocacy groups applauding the decisions also pointed to the high cost of groceries and the anticipated impact of Kroger buying Albertsons—a $24.6 billion deal first announced in October 2022.
"American families are the big winner today, thanks to the Federal Trade Commission. The only people who stood to gain from the potential merger between Albertsons and Kroger were their wealthy executives and investors," asserted Liz Zelnick of Accountable.US. "The rest of us are letting out a huge sigh of relief knowing today's victory is good news for competitive prices and consumer access."
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Like Wolf, Farm Action president and co-founder Angela Huffman similarly highlighted that "while industry consolidation increases prices for consumers and harms workers, grocery mergers also have a devastating impact on farmers and ranchers."
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Some advocates specifically praised Khan—a progressive FTC chair whom President-elect Donald Trumpplans to replace with Andrew Ferguson, a current commissioner who previously worked as chief counsel to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and as Republican counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"Today's decision is a major win for shoppers and grocery workers. Families have been paying the price of unchecked corporate power in the food and grocery sector, and further consolidation would only worsen this crisis," declared Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens in a statement.
"FTC Chair Lina Khan's approach is the blueprint to deliver lower prices, higher wages, and an economy that works for everyone," Owens argued. "The rebirth of antitrust enforcement has protected consumers against the worst of corporate power in our economy and it would be wise to continue this approach."
Laurel Kilgour, research manager at the American Economic Liberties Project, called the federal ruling "a resounding victory for workers, consumers, independent retailers, and local communities nationwide—and a powerful validation of Chair Khan and the FTC's rigorous enforcement of the law."
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Despite the celebrations, the legal battle isn't necessarily over.
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LGBTQ+ and voting rights defenders were among those who sounded the alarm Tuesday over Republican President-elect Donald Trump's selection of a San Francisco attorney known for fighting against transgender rights and for leading a right-wing lawyers' group that took part in Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election to oversee the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.
On Monday, Trump announced his nomination of Harmeet Dhillon to head the key civil rights office, claiming on his Truth Social network that the former California Republican Party vice-chair "has stood up consistently to protect our cherished Civil Liberties, including taking on Big Tech for censoring our Free Speech, representing Christians who were prevented from praying together during COVID, and suing corporations who use woke policies to discriminate against their workers."
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Trump has picked Harmeet Dhillon as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. She has stated that it must be "made unsafe" for hospitals to provide trans care, and frequently shares Libs of TikTok posts. She intends to target trans people in blue states. Subscribe to support my journalism.
[image or embed]
— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) December 10, 2024 at 8:14 AM
Reed continued:
Dhillon's most prominent work includes founding the Center for American Liberty, a legal organization that focuses heavily on anti-transgender cases in blue states. The organization's "featured cases" section highlights several lawsuits, such as Chloe Cole's case against Kaiser Permanente; a lawsuit challenging a Colorado school's use of a transgender student's preferred name; a case against a California school district seeking to implement policies that would forcibly out transgender students; and a lawsuit against Vermont for denying a foster care license to a family unwilling to comply with nondiscrimination policies regarding transgender youth.
Reed also highlighted Dhillon's attacks on state laws protecting transgender people, as well as her expression of "extreme anti-trans views" on social media—including calling gender-affirming healthcare for trans children "child abuse."
Last year, The Guardian's Jason Wilson reported that the Center for American Liberty made a six-figure payment to a public relations firm that represented Dhillion in both "her capacity as head of her own for-profit law firm and Republican activist."
Writing for the voting rights platform Democracy Docket, Matt Cohen on Tuesday accused Dhillon of being "one of the leading legal figures working to roll back voting rights across the country."
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As Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement Tuesday, "The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has the critical responsibility of enforcing our nation's federal civil rights laws and ensuring equal justice under the law on behalf of all of our communities."
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A staunch Trump loyalist, Dhillon has also embraced conspiracy theories including the former president's "Big Lie" that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, and has accused Democrats of "conspiring to commit the biggest election interference fraud in world history."
She was co-chair of the Republican National Lawyers Association when it launched Lawyers for Trump, a group that urged the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene on behalf of the former president after he lost the 2020 election.
Cohen also highlighted Dhillon's ties to right-wing legal activist and Federalist Society co-chair Leonard Leo, described by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) as a "lawless con man and crook" for his refusal to comply with a Senate subpoena and his organization of lavish gifts to conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices.
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