March, 15 2017, 12:45pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Tel: (520) 623.5252,Email:,center@biologicaldiversity.org
Senators Daines, Tester Introduce Bill Weakening Protections for Endangered Species
Another Attempt to Overrule Courts and Slow Landscape-level Protections for Species
WASHINGTON
A proposed bill in Congress would reverse a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision from 2015 that required agency re-consultation for federal management plans regarding endangered species. The bill was introduced Monday by Montana senators Steve Daines, a Republican, and Jon Tester, a Democrat, joined by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) and Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.)
The ''Litigation Relief for Forest Management Projects Act'' would exempt the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management from consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service over already approved land-management plans when new species are protected as endangered or new critical habitat is designated. Such consultations help ensure that newly protected species are not jeopardized by ongoing management. A study from 2015 showed that not a single industry project was halted as a result of Section 7 Consultation.
"This bill is just another cynical attack to weaken a key provision of the Endangered Species Act," said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. "We're deeply disappointed to see Senator Tester and Representative Peterson once again joining Republican efforts to undermine the Endangered Species Act. Federal land-management agencies can -- and should -- make needed updates to plans when new species are protected."
The 9th Circuit held in the 2015 Cottonwood Environmental Law Center v. U.S. Forest Service case that the Forest Service had violated the Endangered Species Act when it failed to reinitiate consultation for a logging plan after critical habitat on federal lands was designated for the Canada lynx. The court also, however, held that mere procedural violations were no longer enough to show irreparable harm and warrant injunctive relief, meaning that such consultations are not a major impediment to completing projects with little harm to endangered species. The Forest Service has also already completed or is near completing consultations over the lynx, as required by the court, calling into question the need for this legislation.
"The Forest Service and BLM typically have years of notice before species or habitat receive protection and have become more proficient at working with the wildlife agencies to ensure that endangered wildlife aren't negatively impacted by logging, mining and other activities," said Suckling. "There is just no need for this legislation."
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
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"The way we're going to bring about the kind of fundamental changes we need in healthcare is, in fact, by a political movement which understands the government has got to represent all of us, not just the 1%," the senator told Jacobin.
The 83-year-old Vermonter, who was just reelected to what he says is likely his last six-year term, is an Independent but caucuses with Democrats and sought their presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He has urged the Democratic Party to recognize why some working-class voters have abandoned it since Republicans won the White House and both chambers of Congress last month. A refusal to take on insurance and drug companies and overhaul the healthcare system, he argues, is one reason.
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In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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