[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 12 (Friday, January 20, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1289-S1290]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 REAUTHORIZE THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President and fellow Senators, I think the American 
public and even we here in the Congress recognize that the November 
elections was a profound statement on the part of this country to speak 
to change.
  Since that time, all eyes have been focused on Washington, as we saw 
the changing of the guard in the House after 40 years of single-party 
rule, and certainly the change that has occurred here that has resulted 
with Republicans being in the majority, leading the Senate and chairing 
the committees. That has also resulted in a very aggressive legislative 
agenda that has focused most of the attention of the American people on 
what is going on in Washington. Whether it was the rule changes in the 
House or the debate on the unfunded mandates bill that still is before 
this Senate, directed by my colleague from Idaho, Dirk Kempthorne, or 
whether it is the growing debate that will soon come to the floor on a 
balanced budget amendment, all eyes remain focused on Washington.
  But while that is going on, something very tragic is still happening 
across America. And that is that there still remains business as usual 
on the part of the Federal Government and our Federal agencies and our 
Federal regulators--as was going on and has been going on long before 
the elections of last November-- the treading on the private citizen, 
the taking away of rights, a Federal Government that is unconcerned, or 
demonstrating at least little concern, about the impact of their 
decisions and their activities on the economies of local communities.
  So for just a moment this afternoon, I thought I would once again 
focus on something that is now occurring in my State of Idaho and try 
to once again impress upon the Congress, and certainly those who might 
be watching, the magnitude of the job we have before us and the tragedy 
of this administration failing to be responsive and allowing their 
agencies to run amok in an unwillingness to be concerned about the 
human being--the citizen, the taxpayer--but to be all concerned about 
the Federal regulations and to make sure that every letter of the law 
is complied with, even laws that no longer work for the American people 
or 
[[Page S1290]] demonstrate their fairness or their equity.
  Last Thursday, in Boise, ID, Judge David Ezra, with a sweep of his 
pen, Mr. President, shut down 14 million acres in the State of Idaho. 
What does that mean? That means that in an area the size of 
Massachusetts and Connecticut and Maryland combined, this judge said, 
``Under the auspices of the Endangered Species Act, there will be no 
logging, no mining, no grazing, no road building or any human activity 
until the Forest Service can convince me and convince national marine 
fisheries that all of their activities fit within the confines of the 
Endangered Species Act,'' even if not one of those activities can 
scientifically be proven to harm a species of fish that is now listed 
as endangered within the watersheds of that region of the State of 
Idaho.
  As a result of that, 56 timber stations, 82 mining operations, 3 road 
construction projects, and 395 livestock grazing operations--better 
known as ranches--have been told to cease and desist. Thousands of 
miners will be out of work as of Monday morning, next Monday morning, 
not because the mine played out, not because the market for minerals 
dropped, but because the Federal Government said you can no longer 
mine, and a Federal judge, again, said last Thursday, with the sweep of 
his pen, ``Walk away. Pull your paycheck. We are not worried about your 
children and your homes and your families and your communities. We are 
worried that the law which is now clearly in question be complied 
with.''
  Well, Mr. President, you can well imagine, chaos reigns supreme in my 
State of Idaho at this moment; that in six of the eight Federal forests 
in my State, amassing over 14 million acres, all human activity, which 
is a major part of the economic base of that region of my State, has 
just been told to shut down, awaiting the action of a Federal 
bureaucracy that is now days behind in what it should have been doing 
days ago.
  That is why it is so imperative that the Environment and Public Works 
Committee look at the reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act 
now--not next year, not 3 years from now, but now--to make sure that 
these kinds of silly bureaucratic activities can no longer go on and 
put the average man and woman and small business people in my State or 
any other State arbitrarily out of business.
  We saw it go on in Oregon, with the spotted owl--30,000 loggers in 
the State of Oregon. Now, in my State of Idaho, thousands--yes, 
thousands--of people, small businesses that have existed in one family 
for over 100 years, are being threatened with their very existence.
  It is clearly a call to arms. And I think the people of my State 
recognize that. It is clearly the responsibility of this Congress to 
change the law, to make it more compatible, to make it more sensitive, 
to put the human species back into the blend of the Endangered Species 
Act so that we at least give some credence to the human species, that 
is the steward of the land, instead of arbitrarily saying to that human 
being--that mother, that father, that worker, that logger, that miner, 
that rancher, that small business person--``Step aside. You are no 
longer important. Step aside to a plant or an animal.''
  Since when did this Government become so insensitive to the rights of 
the human being? Since we have ignored our responsibilities to 
reauthorize the Endangered Species Act, and do these kinds of things 
that the American people finally in November of last year rose up and 
said to the Congress of the United States: ``Become responsive to our 
needs or step aside and we will find somebody who will.''
  Well, I certainly hope this Senate recognizes that call and will 
become increasingly sensitive to their responsibility to the taxpayer, 
to the citizens, the law-abiding citizens, of our country.
  Let us start with reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act, so 
that what is going on in Idaho today and next week and throughout this 
coming year, and what has gone on in the State of Oregon and other 
places around our country will not be repeated again; that we, as 
Senators, who agree to take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the 
United States, will do that constitutional duty to put people back into 
the equation of being responsible for the stewards of our land.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.

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