[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 92 (Wednesday, July 10, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H4433]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             ESA REFORM ACT

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, those of us in the West are in desperate 
need of some real reform to the Endangered Species Act. If we fail to 
implement commonsense changes to the Endangered Species Act, the act 
itself will be in danger.
  Too often ranchers, farmers and local governments are finding 
themselves and their scientific data overruled by emotion, the emotion 
of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, an agency often guided in their 
decision-making by well-funded, emotionally driven environmental 
groups.
  I have seen firsthand the misuse of the ESA. In Nevada, the State 
Department of Wildlife had decades of biological scientific data 
recommending that the bulltrout in Elko's Arbidge River not be listed 
as an endangered species. Yet the State's scientific data was thrown 
out the window by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, not because of competing 
Federal science but because of a petition drive by a special interest 
group instead of sound science.
  We all want to protect endangered species. However, we should do so 
in a fair manner based on scientific evidence and not personal emotion.
  Passing ESA reforms will restore integrity to the law, ensuring that 
both environment and the interests of our communities are protected.




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