Friends-

Some extreme members of Congress are looking to strip down the Endangered Species Act, starting in the House of Representatives this week!

The Endangered Species Act is wildlife's last chance, our national equivalent to Noah's Ark.  It is the law that brought back wolves to the West, helped grizzly bears recover, saved the black-footed ferret, and is now being enacted to help protect the recently re-discovered Ivory Billed-Woodpecker in Arkansas.  By the way, it was also responsible for saving our national bird, the Bald Eagle.

And now some developers, big agribusinesses, and our "friends" in the oil and gas corporations have poured enough money into Congress to get them to wreck the Endangered Species Act this year.

It's sad, but NOW is the time to act.  Before this proposed extinction bill (called "TESRA") gains momentum in Congress, we need to nip it in the bud.  If you care about wildlife at all, PLEASE take a moment in the next week to contact your Congressional representatives about this TESRA extinction bill.  Information on how to contact your representative is below.

Nationwide public support for the Endangered Species Act is strong-- but we all know that money sometimes overrules the majority.  THIS IS THE BIG ONE-- PLEASE CALL NOW!

THANK YOU!

Jon Schwedler
Predator Conservation Alliance
(406) 587-3389 x106

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ACTION:  Please call your Member of Congress and ask them to oppose Representative Pombo's bill (H.R. 3824) that would weaken the protections of the Endangered Species Act.

It is especially important that members of the Resources Committee hear from constituents today!  Those members are listed below.

Capitol Switchboard:  (202) 224-3121

Ask for your Member of Congress's office.

You can look up your Representative at:  www.house.gov (http://www.house.gov/)
You can look up your Senators at:  www.senate.gov (http://www.senate.gov/)

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It is especially important that these members of the Resources Committee hear from constituents.

HOUSE RESOURCES COMMITTEE
Richard W. Pombo (http://www.house.gov/pombo)  , California,Chairman
Nick J. Rahall II (http://www.house.gov/rahall)  , West Virginia, Ranking Democrat Member
Don Young (http://www.house.gov/donyoung/)  , Alaska
George Miller (http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/)  , California
Jim Saxton , (http://www.house.gov/saxton/)  New Jersey
Ed Markey (http://www.house.gov/markey/)  , Massachusetts
Elton Gallegly (http://www.house.gov/gallegly/)  , California
Dale E. Kildee (http://www.house.gov/kildee/)  , Michigan
John J. Duncan, Jr. (http://www.house.gov/duncan/)  , Tennessee
Peter DeFazio (http://www.house.gov/defazio/)  , Oregon
Wayne T. Gilchrest (http://gilchrest.house.gov/)  ,  Maryland
Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (http://www.house.gov/faleomavaega/)  , American Samoa
Ken Calvert (http://www.house.gov/calvert/)  , California
Neil Abercrombie (http://www.house.gov/abercrombie/)  , Hawaii
Barbara Cubin (http://www.house.gov/cubin/)  , Wyoming
Solomon P. Ortiz (http://www.house.gov/ortiz/)  , Texas
George P. Radanovich (http://www.radanovich.house.gov/)  , California
Frank Pallone, Jr . (http://www.house.gov/pallone/) , New Jersey
Walter B. Jones, Jr. (http://jones.house.gov/)  , North Carolina
Donna M. Christensen (http://www.house.gov/christian-christensen/)  , Virgin Islands
Chris Cannon (http://chriscannon.house.gov/)  , Utah
Ron Kind (http://www.house.gov/kind/)  , Wisconsin
John E. Peterson (http://www.house.gov/johnpeterson/)  , Pennsylvania
Jay Inslee (http://www.house.gov/inslee/)  , Washington
Jim Gibbons (http://www.house.gov/gibbons/)  , Nevada
Grace F. Napolitano (http://www.napolitano.house.gov/)  , California
Greg Walden (http://www.house.gov/walden/)  , Oregon
Tom Udall (http://www.tomudall.house.gov/display2.cfm?id=4887&type=Home)  , New Mexico
Thomas G. Tancredo (http://www.house.gov/tancredo/)  , Colorado
Mark Udall (http://markudall.house.gov/HoR/CO02/Home.htm)  , Colorado
J.D. Hayworth (http://www.house.gov/hayworth/)  , Arizona
Raúl M. Grijalva (http://www.house.gov/grijalva/)  , Arizona
Jeff Flake (http://www.house.gov/flake/)  , Arizona
Dennis Cardoza (http://www.house.gov/cardoza/)  , California
Rick Renzi (http://www.house.gov/renzi/)  , Arizona
Madeleine Z. Bordallo (http://www.house.gov/bordallo/)  , Guam
Stevan Pearce , (http://www.house.gov/pearce/)  New Mexico
Jim Costa (http://www.house.gov/costa/)  , California
Henry Brown (http://wwwc.house.gov/henrybrown/content.aspx?flash=y)  , South Carolina
Charlie Melancon (http://www.house.gov/melancon/)  , Louisiana
Thelma Drake (http://drake.house.gov/)  , Virginia
Dan Boren (http://www.house.gov/boren/)  , Oklahoma
Luis Fortuno (http://www.house.gov/fortuno/)  , Puerto Rico
Stephanie Herseth (http://www.house.gov/herseth/)  , South Dakota
Cathy McMorris (http://www.mcmorris.house.gov/)  , Washington
Bobby Jindal (http://www.house.gov/jindal/)  , Louisiana
Louie Gohmert (http://www.house.gov/gohmert/)  , Texas
Marilyn Musgrave (http://wwwc.house.gov/musgrave/)  , Colorado

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Talking points:

* I am calling to ask you to support for the Endangered Species Act and urge you to oppose Representative Pombo's Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act (H.R. 3824) because it would weaken protections for endangered species and habitat.
* Representative Richard Pombo's bill aggressively strips the Endangered Species Act of its strongest protections.  Representative Pombo and his bill are 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.
* Greedy developers and the politicians they give money to are attempting to weaken America's safety net for endangered species.  We have a responsibility to prevent the extinction of fish, plants and wildlife because once they are gone we cannot bring them back.
* Please support the Endangered Species Act and oppose any bill that would weaken protections for endangered species and habitat.

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BACKGROUND:

Representative Pombo's Extinction bill would gut the Endangered Species Act on behalf of greedy developers, oil companies, timber companies, mining companies and extreme property rights groups.

- Eliminates critical habitat: Species with designated critical habitat are recovering twice as fast as species without it. Pombo's bill completely eliminates critical habitat. Critical habitat is one of the most important and successful tools in the conservation toolbox if we don't protect the places species call home, they will never recover.

- Politicizes scientific decisions: The Endangered Species Act requires that all decisions be made on basis of the best available scientific information-what constitutes the best science is left up to the scientific community. Pombo's bill allows a political appointee, the Secretary of Interior, to define the best science and to unilaterally overturn, with no public or scientific review, any decision she deems to not fit her definition. Science should be determined by scientists, not political appointees.

- Eliminates independent oversight: The Endangered Species Act requires that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and/or NOAA Fisheries independently review federal actions which may harm endangered species. Pombo's bill allows the Secretary of Interior, a political appointee, to exempt individual projects or entire classes of projects from independent oversight.  Rep.Pombo's bill takes unbiased, professional wildlife and fisheries experts out of the equation.

- Weakens recovery efforts: The Endangered Species Act requires that federal recovery plans be implemented by federal agencies, and that species be protected until they are fully recovered. Pombo's bill allows federal agencies to ignore recovery plans, and requires that species be delisted within individual states even though the species as whole is tumbling toward extinction. Rep. Pombo's bill will fragment recovery efforts, throwing the Endangered Species Act's holistic approach out the window.

- Allows projects that harm species: The Endangered Species Act is a "look before you leap" law. It requires that all actions which may push species toward extinction be reviewed before they are implemented. Pombo's bill reverses the order. It requires that destructive projects go forward with no review unless federal agencies object within 90-days.

- Bankrupts the Endangered Species Act by requiring the federal government to pay landowners to not violate the law. This not only would have a tremendous negative impact on the federal budget, it would set a precedent to require the government to pay developers for any profits lost to environmental protections, and it would reward developers who plan the maximum and most potentially profitable projects for the most ecologically important habitat. In short, it begs developers to plan projects that allow them to extort payment from the government.  The conservation community supports reasonable incentives for landowners who take proactive actions that significantly contribute to the recovery of endangered and threatened species.