WASHINGTON, June 28, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Brock Evans, Executive Director of the Endangered Species Coalition, called on members of the Senate to go much further than the Senate Interior Appropriations Committee recommended, to provide sufficient funding for endangered species protection. "Thirty-nine species have died -- are lost forever -- because Congress has never fully funded the programs that have been mandated under the Endangered Species Act for almost 30 years," Evans said. "We must obey the law at last, and actually protect endangered species."
Two weeks ago, the House of Representatives approved the White House's request for $8.47 million for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's (FWS) endangered species listing and critical habitat programs. Today the Senate raised that amount by $530,000. However, FWS officials have stated publicly that the agency needs $120 million over the next five years, with $24 million in the FY 2002 budget, in order to clear the backlog of species waiting for listing and set aside habitat for the endangered species currently listed.
Evans said: "Opponents of the Endangered Species Act have been waging an underhanded war for years, by not allocating money for endangered species protection. They have been doing this in the hope that the plants and animals waiting to get onto the list -- or those on the list, but waiting to have a protected place set aside where they could live -- would all dies. We must not let this happen."
Despite this criticism, Evans thanked the Senators on the committee for resisting pressure from the Bush administration to consider policy changes he called "the extinction rider." Evans said, "Thanks to a strong stand led by Sen. Harry Reid, who rallied 13 colleagues with him, this attempt to end citizen lawsuits and give unprecedented power to Gale Norton was stopped cold." House members had also rejected the "extinction rider" two weeks earlier.
Evans pointed out that the Endangered Species Coalition is comprised of more than 430 religious, scientific, civic, and environmental organizations encompassing "millions of Americans," and said the ESC is calling on the members of the Senate to "stand up for respecting the law" by funding the protection programs. He concluded: "If they do, our grandchildren and generations to come will thank them for this precious and priceless heritage."
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CONTACT: Endangered Species Coalition, Washington
Ed Lytwak, Communications Director
(202) 772-3231
www.stopextinction.org