By Senator John Cornyn (R-TX)
In 2011, two environmental groups settled multi-district litigation with the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that will result in potentially hundreds of species being added to the endangered species list and the payment of expensive litigation fees to the plaintiffs. Closed-door Endangered Species Act (ESA) settlements not only threaten undue regulation, but give plaintiffs undue leverage over local landowners, businesses, and elected officials in the conservation process.
Texans, like many Americans, are now in a fight for their economic livelihoods due to the reordering of priority species under the settlemnts. One species proposed for listing as part of the settlements was the sand dune lizard. Such a listing would have threatened the jobs of nearly 27,000 Texans who work in the Permian Basin, home to more than one-fifth of the top 100 oil fields in America. The FWS ultimately found a listing was not warranted due to conservation agreements put in place with local landowners. It recognized that the solution to protecting endangered species was working with local government and groups, not keeping them out of the process. Still, the threat of more listings continues, as there are more than 100 species found in Texas that have received or are slated for federal review within the next five years.
Just as they hastily tried to list the sand dune lizard in West Texas, the Administration is again, pursuing premature listing of several Central Texas salamanders. Its pursuit is based on limited data and threatens negative economic consequences. Many of you may also be familiar with the FWS proposal to list the Lesser Prairie Chicken (LPC) as a threatened species in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, and Colorado. The outcome of this listing proposal is vitally important to many sectors including agriculture; oil and gas development; ranching; transportation; and wind energy.
As conservation efforts are ongoing and the science evaluating the status of the species is still developing, I’ve been working with my colleagues to ensure there is sufficient time to evaluate the true health of the species, rather than holding fast to arbitrary court-mandated deadlines that do not account for ongoing species recovery developments. The FWS recently agreed to an extension that would allow state agencies time to incorporate comments to the Service’s proposal.
Proposals to list species as endangered or threatened should be based on verifiable data and sound science – not as a tool to block job creation and economic development. In fact, millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent by federal agency attorneys defending litigation over the ESA. In response, I have introduced legislation to amend the ESA to increase safeguards for local communities and job creators. Senate Bill 19 (S. 19) would amend the ESA to give states, counties, and other affected parties a say in the settlement of the ESA citizen suits that pose the greatest economic threat and are the subject of the most abuse. This legislation will also prevent U.S. taxpayer dollars from being used to settle these lawsuits.
There is always a balance to be found in the conservation of species and economic growth and prosperity. For the long-term health of both the species and the communities where they reside, these decisions should be made with the involvement of local stakeholders.
