It
came as no surprise late last week when the Republican-dominated
Congress and the Trump administration announced their intention to gut
the Endangered Species Act despite the fact that it enjoys a stunning 80
percent support among Americans.
It
is nothing short of embarrassing for Montanans that the
administration’s deregulatory efforts are being led by none other than
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke — a guy who still claims to be a
Montanan. Zinke is aided and abetted by Montana’s lone congressman, Greg
Gianforte, who is backing a package of House bills from Rep. Rob
Bishop, R-Utah, who has said he “would love to invalidate” the
Endangered Species Act.
There’s
no doubt that the industrialization of America has had devastating
impacts on a host of native plant and animal species across the
continent. From tiny snail darters in the Appalachians to the
once-abundant runs of salmon up the mighty rivers of the West, logging,
mining, oil and gas drilling, road-building, dams and rampant industrial
development have fragmented and destroyed the habitat essential to the
very existence of thousands of species. Humans are now held responsible
for what is being called “the sixth great extinction event” on the
planet. In simple terms, it’s estimated that species are now going
extinct at a rate 100 to 1,000 times faster than natural background
rates.
What
makes Zinke’s and Gianforte’s efforts to gut the Endangered Species Act
even more egregious is that Montana and the Northern Rockies still have
almost all the native species that were here when Lewis and Clark’s
expedition rolled through more than two centuries ago — even if some of
them, like lynx, bull trout, sage grouse, white sturgeon and wolverines,
are struggling to survive.
One might think Zinke and Gianforte
would take pride in Montana’s unique status and work to preserve and
restore our native species. But instead, Gianforte facetiously claims
the House bills are an “opportunity to modernize the ESA with targeted
reforms… and bring some common sense back to protecting endangered
species” — the exact opposite of what will actually happen.
Among
many other things, the moves will let Zinke block petitions for listing
or agency actions protecting species; block critical habitat
designations on water bodies already considered disturbed; defer agency
scientific findings to state data; force the federal government to
consider the economic impact of saving a species rather than making a
decision based solely on science; and concentrate efforts on places
where species currently reside rather than designating the critical
habitat necessary for their survival.
Given
that many of the threatened and endangered species are victims of
habitat fragmentation, destruction and/or interference with traditional
migratory or spawning routes, it’s easy to see that concentrating
recovery efforts on smaller landscapes will be futile for the species
that require large, intact and connected habitats — be they forests,
rivers or plains. Likewise, if you put the continued existence of
endangered species up against the economic potential of extractive
industries such as logging, drilling and mining, the heavy thumb of
corporate interests is sure to tip the scale.
It’s
ironic that Republicans claim to be “pro-life” — but apparently
reserve that stance to telling women what they can do with their bodies
rather than preserving the life of threatened and endangered species.
Being in thrall to extractive industries, it’s not surprising that
profits take precedence for Zinke and Gianforte. But if we want to keep
our precious and unique native species around for our kids and
grandkids, it’s time to tell Montana’s extinction enablers in no
uncertain terms “hands off the Endangered Species Act.”
George
Ochenski writes from Helena. His column appears each Monday on the
Missoulian's Opinion page. He can be reached by email at oped@missoulian.com.
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