Congressman Dennis Cardoza
18th Congressional District of California

“We need a system that enables the Fish and Wildlife Service to make more informed decisions on critical habitat designations and how to actually preserve a species,” Cardoza said.  “In its current form, the Endangered Species Act is not meeting important recovery goals, with only 7 of 1300 species delisted in 30 years.  This bill brings common sense to the ESA, making it more effective.”

The Critical Habitat Enforcement Act would redefine the critical habitat designation process in order to reduce the amount of litigation by private interests against the Service and to truly protect and conserve the species in question.

“Congressman Cardoza’s legislation addresses what is probably the most widely agreed upon problem with the ESA,” said House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo.  “The unintended consequence of the current critical habitat designation process is that it has relegated our biologists to courtrooms and legal chores instead of hands-on species recovery work in the field.  Correcting this problem will be one of the first and most important steps in our collective effort to update the Act for the 21^st century and strengthen its results for species recovery.”

“We hope to make real progress on both sides of the Capitol this year to help modernize and improve the ESA so that the Act focuses more on the recovery of species and less on process,” said Senator James Inhofe, R-OK.  “As Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, I look forward to working in a bipartisan and bicameral way to make this goal a reality.  I thank Congressman Cardoza for contributing to the debate by introducing this legislation.”

“We welcome Congressman Cardoza’s bill to the mix of ideas for improving the ESA,” said Senator Mike Crapo, R-ID.  “As we said in February, we have agreed to work together with bill sponsors and that is exactly what is happening.  I am glad we are also expanding the group of cooperating members to include Democrats.”

Specifically, Cardoza’s legislation would extend the timeline for designating critical habitat for a listed species, giving more time to the Fish and Wildlife Service to properly study the needs of the species and appropriately designate critical habitat.  The bill would also require the Service to consult with local entities when designating lands for protection and require the consideration of the economic effects of critical habitat in their analyses.

“This bill is a step toward strengthening and enhancing the Endangered Species Act,” said Congressman Greg Walden, R-OR.  “Allowing more time to study the needs of at-risk species, taking into consideration the input of local entities and land managers, and factoring in the economic impact of critical habitat designation are all steps toward reaching our ultimate goal – the recovery and protection of species, habitats and communities.”

“Fostering a continued sense of community involvement and participation is an important and often overlooked component of species protection,” Cardoza said.  “Information is the key – the more data, the better informed the decision.”

Due primarily to budget shortfalls, the Service has been unable to comply with mandated deadlines imposed by the ESA for completing critical habitat designations.  In response, private litigants have repeatedly sued the Service because it has failed to meet these deadlines.  These lawsuits have then subjected the Service to an increasing series of court orders and court-approved settlement agreements.

Compliance with these court actions now consumes nearly the entire listing program budget. This situation leaves the Service with little ability to prioritize its activities or to direct scarce listing resources to program actions most urgently needed to conserve species.