[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 30, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1279-E1280]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            21ST CENTURY ENDANGERED SPECIES TRANSPARENCY ACT

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                               speech of

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 29, 2014

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4315) to 
     amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require 
     publication on the Internet of the basis for determinations 
     that species are endangered species or threatened species, 
     and for other purposes:

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 4315, 
which would interfere with scientific determinations for endangered 
species recovery and divert resources towards unnecessary bureaucracy 
at the Fish and Wildlife Service.
  The Endangered Species Act is designed to use the best possible 
science to identify and protect our most vulnerable species from 
extinction. This bill would eliminate rational assessment of data and 
instead mandate that any information from any state, local, or tribal 
government must be named the ``best available science'' to make 
decisions. It includes no minimum threshold, such as peer review, for 
the integrity of that data. Moreover, it invites uncertainty, as there 
is no way to distinguish between conflicting data from two different 
states or localities.
  The bill also creates unnecessary and cumbersome reporting 
requirements for the Fish and Wildlife Service, including listing 
potentially sensitive commercial data and species location information 
online. It includes no additional funding to complete these reports, 
diverting funds from the agency's core mission of safeguarding 
vulnerable species.
  As the Speaker plans to recess the House at the end of this week, 
there are important

[[Page E1280]]

issues that we should be addressing, including the wildfires that 
threaten public and private lands in the west. Instead, we are 
weakening fundamental protections for endangered species, creating more 
paperwork to distract from recovery efforts, and devising bizarre new 
rules to politicize science. I urge my colleagues to vote no on this 
bill.

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