Davis Enterprise - Thompson-led effort spares endangered species listings'
Rep. Mike Thompson on Wednesday helped lead a bipartisan effort that prevented the gutting of the federal Endangered Species Act.
Thompson, D-St. Helena, co-authored a successful amendment that stripped what environmentalists had come to call the “extinction rider” from the 2012 interior appropriations bill. The rider would have prevented the Fish and Wildlife Service from funding new listings of animals and plants as endangered species.
In a statement, Thompson called for “science-based policies and recovery plans for imperiled species instead of allowing politics to drive listing decisions and activities.”
“We've been trying to get more species off the endangered species list for years, and the majority party is leading the way,” he said. “Unfortunately, their strategy is to prevent endangered species from being listed as endangered in the first place.
“The extinction rider is so ridiculous that it would be comical, but for the dangerous effect it would have on imperiled species that are struggling to survive.”
GOP members have argued the current program of species protection opens the door for costly lawsuits on behalf of plants and animals environmental groups should be protected.
In his floor speech, Thompson argued that if the same legislation had been into effect 44 years ago, the bald eagle, which numbered less than 450 pairs in the 1960, would have gone extinct instead of recovering. With nearly 10,000 nesting pairs, the eagle was taken off the endangered species list in 2007.
Co-authored with Reps. Norm Dicks, D-Wash.; Michael Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; and Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii; Thompson's amendment passed 224-202, with the support of 37 Republicans.
Environmentalists are waging an uphill battle against the appropriations bill.
They have decried myriad riders, including efforts to open up millions of protected acres to mining and drilling, allow more off-road vehicles in national forests in California and halt funding for San Joaquin River salmon restoration.
Marjorie Mulhall, associate legislative counsel of the group Earthjustice, praised Thompson and his colleagues for helping avert “disaster” for endangered species.
“The majority's vote today affirms that we absolutely don't have to let our imperiled species die off in order to balance our budget,” she said. “Anyone who says otherwise, deeply underestimates our nation.”