Date: December 16, 2005
Contact: David Godfrey
Or Dan Evans
Phone: (352) 373-6441

How You Can Help

Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) introduced a bill on December 15, 2005, aimed at undermining protections for endangered species. The Senate bill, S.2110, cynically titled the “Collaboration and Recovery of Endangered Species Act,” would create arbitrary roadblocks to protecting endangered species and habitat, greatly increase delays and political manipulation in conservation decisions, and cut federal oversight of projects that threaten endangered species.

The bill would seriously weaken the Endangered Species Act’s safety net provisions protecting endangered species and habitats. Senator Crapo’s “Collaboration for Recovery of Endangered Species Act” (S. 2110) would:

• Waive fundamental habitat protections;
• Indefinitely delay designation of critical habitat;
• indefinitely delay listing and protection of endangered species;
• give industry and other special interest control over the recovery planning process;
• undermine Endangered Species Act enforcement;
• force taxpayers to pay developers and other landowners to comply with the law;
• divert scare dollars from private landowner conservation; and
• codify the “No Surprises” policy, which gives assurances to landowners, but not endangered species protection and recovery

Analysis of Crapo bill (S.2110)  |  Text of Sen. Crapo bill S.2110

(Analysis provided by the Center for Biological Diversity.)

Senator Crapo’s legislation continues the push, begun in the House by Congressman Richard Pombo, to make far-reaching changes to the Endangered Species Act. Pombo’s Extinction bill is an attack on the Endangered Species Act and a tremendous give-away to greedy developers and other special interests.

The Senate will now decide the fate of the Endangered Species Act, so it is important that Senators hear from their constituents asking them to support the existing ESA and oppose Senate bill S.2110, a bill that would weaken protections for endangered species and their habitat. The Endangered Species Act is a safety net that protects wildlife, fish and plants on the brink of extinction.

Please call your Senator and urge them to support the Endangered Species Act and oppose oppose Senate bill S.2110!

US Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 and just ask for your Senator’s office.
To find out who your Senator is, visit www.senate.gov

Background

Sea turtles are facing a new threat – right in the halls of Congress. The Endangered Species Act (ESA), passed in 1973 to prevent declining species, such as sea turtles, from going extinct, is under attack again from anti-environment legislators and lobbyists for industries that are inconvenienced with having to accommodate imperiled species. The ESA has been the single most important tool in the protection and recovery of sea turtles in the United States and its waters. Despite claims by those attacking this landmark legislation, the ESA helped bring back many species on the brink of extinction – including America’s national symbol, the bald eagle.

Led by long-term critic of the ESA, Representative Richard Pombo (R-CA), new legislation was passed in the US House of Representatives that would completely reverse U.S. policy toward habitat and species conservation. Conservationists, scientists and environmental regulators have quickly labeled Pombo’s legislation as the “Extinction Bill” and are gearing up for a major battle to save the Endangered Species Act. Blocking the “Extinction Bill” could be one of the most significant battles of the conservation movement in almost 30 years.

“If you write or call your legislators about only one bad environmental bill this year, this is the one to get mad about,” said David Godfrey, STC Executive Director. “Sea turtles, in particular, will be devastated if the Senate’s radical bill guts the Endangered Species Act.”

In an effort to get the word out about this threat to the ESA, STC arranged a tour for Florida reporters to visit the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, where the effectiveness of the ESA can be seen first-hand. Since its passage in the 70s, the ESA has led to fishing regulations that save thousands of sea turtles each year and encouraged the acquisition of important nesting habitat like that in the Carr Refuge. Listen to the Public Radio Story on Sea Turtles and the Endangered Species Act

The real purpose of Pambo’s House bill and Crapo’s Senate bill is to gut the Endangered Species Act. The ESA has been enormously successful in preventing the extinction of hundreds of species, including bald eagles, gray wolves, Pacific salmon and sea turtles. We must not diminish protection for these magnificent animals, or for the habitats they depend upon to survive.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please Contact Your Senator To Oppose Sen. Crapo’s bill, S.2110!

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Legislator’s office.
Look up your Senators at: www.senate.gov

Talking points

• I am calling to ask you to support for the Endangered Species Act and oppose Senate bill S.2110. This bill would weaken protections for endangered species and habitat.
• Senator Mike Crapo’s bill will strip the Endangered Species Act of its strongest protections, the bill is controversial and out of step with the American public’s support of the Endangered Species Act.
• For over thirty years, the Endangered Species Act has been a safety net for wildlife, fish and plants on the brink of extinction. It has been successful in preventing the extinction of the American Bald Eagle, the gray wolf, the pacific salmon, (or other local species) as well as many other species.
• The Endangered Species Act stands for fundamental principles that we all believe in and cannot allow to be weakened or removed. In fact, 86% of Americans support the Endangered Species Act.
• Please support the Endangered Species Act and oppose Senate bill S.2110, which would weaken protections for endangered species and habitat.

The Sea Turtle Conservancy is a member of the www.endangered.org and the Florida Endangered Species Network.