|
|
|
H.R. 1588 -- Nancy Pelosi Votes to Weaken the ESA and the MMPA |
|
|
On May 22, 2003 Nancy Pelosi voted to weaken the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammals Protection Act when she voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004.
According to a May 19, 2003 release by the Defenders of Wildlife, this bill (which later became Public Law No: 108-136 and ultimately authorized the appropriation of about $400 billion to the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy) set out to significantly undermine the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammals Protection Act. According to the release, under this bill, "Federal agencies could be free to log, mine, or drill for oil and gas without having to consider habitat needed for recovery of imperiled species. This provision is far-reaching, applying to all lands, not just DOD lands."
In addition, the bill sought to eliminate the designation of "critical habitat" on the 25 million acres controlled by the Department of Defense. It also exempted the Department of Defense from any responsibility for the San Pedro River Basin in Arizona, which has the highest diversity of vertebrate species in the inland part of the United States, and the part of the world with the second largest diversity of land mammals. The region had been considered so biologically significant -- up to 2003 -- that Congress had designated a 45-mile stretch of the upper river as the nation's first Riparian National Conservation Area in 1988, according to Defenders of Wildlife.
Under H.R. 1588, the defense department "would also be able grant itself categorical exemptions to the MMPA for any 'category of actions' necessary for national defense," says the Defenders of Wildlife report. The American Institute of Physics added in a December 30, 2003 press release, "The FY 2004 Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 1588) contains language giving the federal government greater leeway to use submarine-tracking sonar, conduct scientific research, or perform other actions that might affect marine mammals."
More information about this bill can be found at:
http://www.defenders.org/releases/pr2003/pr051903c.html or http://www.aip.org/fyi/2003/165.html.
Three-hundred and sixty-one representatives voted in favor of the bill � 223 Republicans and 138 Democrats. Sixty-six Democrats, one Republican and one independent voted against passage. The 'noes' from California included Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara), Anna Eshoo, Sam Farr (D-Carmel), Bob Filner (D-San Diego), Mike Honda (D-San Jose), Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), George Miller (D-Martinez), Linda T. Sanchez (D-Lakewood), Hilda Solis (D-El Monte), Pete Stark (D-Fremont), Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), Diane E. Watson (D-Los Angeles), Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles), and Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma). Well-known members of Congress outside of California who voted against the bill were John Conyers (D-Detroit), Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts), John Lewis (D-Georgia), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont).
Nancy Pelosi voted 'aye,' along with the most pro-war and anti-environmental of the Republicans, including Tom DeLay and Richard Pombo.
I would have voted �no.� I am an environmentalist and am strongly opposed to the diversion of our national treasury into the military-industrial complex.
|
|
Home 
Read it now! 