ESA Reform
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. The Endangered Species Act is currently under review in the House Natural Resources Committee, with new legislation aimed at updating a law that has seen few significant changes since its passage in 1973.
House Natural Resources Committee member Montana Republican, Troy Downing says reform is long overdue …
DOWNING … “One of the problems with the Endangered Species Act, because I understand, none of us want to see any threatened species going extinct, but it’s become the Hotel California. You can check in any time you want, but you can never leave. And so, we’ve really seen that in Montana with the Grizzly population. We’ve seen it reach its numbers. We’ve seen it exceed that number. We’ve continued to see so many issues.”
Downing says the goal of revisiting the Endangered Species Act is not to change the Act, but to meet the needs of its intentions. So, let’s allow the states the power to do the right thing …
DOWNING … “You know, nobody is saying throw the program away. We just need to be open to revising it so that it’s actually meeting the needs of its original intentions and not creating undue stress, loss, damage, harm to our farmers and ranchers. So, I’m really happy that we’re going to see this get to the floor and I’m very hopeful that we get it passed and get it to the President’s desk.”
Downing says the new legislation does have bipartisan support in the House, with hopes of carrying that momentum into the Senate.
