From: alra@governance.net Subject: ESA Congress Action – August Recess Land Rights Network American Land Rights Association PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA 98604 Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973 E-mail: alra@landrights.org or alra@governance.net Web Address: http://www.landrights.org Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE – Washington, DC 20003 ESA Congress Action – August Recess Congress is heating up on Endangered Species Act. See the Congressional Quarterly article below. It’s likely that the House Resources Committee will take up the ESA sometime after the middle of September. You need to let your House Member know you are interested in the ESA. Make sure your Representative knows you want this law updated after 31 years, largely as a failure. Tell him or her the ESA must be fixed so it will protect people, their jobs and their communities while actually recovering species. So far, it has failed at both. It’s time to call your Congressman and try to see him or her during the August recess that runs into early September. There’s not much time left. The important thing is to get on the record with your Representative before the House considers the Pombo bill in the later part of September. Take a friend or two and visit your Representative personally or go to a town meeting most Members of Congress schedule in their home district during this period. Action Items: -----1. Call your Congressman to ask his schedule for any town meetings in your area in the next two weeks. Any Congressman may be called at (202) 225-3121. Be sure to ask for his or her fax number when you call. E-mail too. If he has any meetings scheduled, make plans to attend. -----2. Call your Congressman to make an appointment to see him with a friend in the next week or two. You may or may not get the appointment but just making the call will let his office staff know you are concerned about the Endangered Species Act. That will make them pay more attention. -----3. Call three other people to urge them to call and make the same requests. -----4. American Land Rights has uploaded a new dramatically changed Testimony Questionnaire to our website. . It’s right on the home page at www.landrights.org Print it out and fax it to your Congressman. This is an easy way to tell your Congressman how you feel about the ESA. You don’t have to agree with ALRA. You are free to disagree. But it is a useful tool to let you also put down in your own words your personal thoughts as Congress takes up this terribly important revision of the Endangered Species Act. It would be great if you faxed a copy of your Testimony Questionnaire to American Land Rights as well. Fax it to (360) 687-2973. Or e-mail your comments to ccushman@landrights.org. CQ TODAY Aug. 17, 2005 - 12:56 p.m. Republicans in Both Chambers Preparing to Tackle Endangered Species Act By Benton Ives-Halperin, CQ Staff A group of senators dominated by Western Republicans is taking aim at the Endangered Species Act and plans to introduce legislation by year's end that would require specific recovery plans for listed species and would rewrite critical habitat provisions of the law. "The Endangered Species Act is not working and needs to be changed," said Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., in a statement issued Tuesday. Thomas is spearheading efforts to rewrite the species recovery provisions in the law to require a recovery plan to be in place when a species is listed as endangered. Sen. Michael D. Crapo, R-Idaho, another member of the group, hopes to have a bill introduced before the end of the year, according to press secretary Susan Wheeler. Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo., also a member, is pressing to include language that would provide incentives for landowners to participate in recovery efforts. "While the original goals of the ESA are noble, it has become more of a tool to lock up land than a tool used to protect and recover species," Enzi said in the Tuesday statement. Chaired by Crapo and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., the group includes Robert F. Bennett, R-Utah, Conrad Burns, R-Mont., Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and Larry E. Craig, R-Idaho. When Lincoln, the lone Democrat in the group so far, joined this month she said that "solutions can be found that will better protect species without hindering the rights of landowners." The Senate group also is considering changes to the law that would boost state involvement in listing decisions and increase oversight of recovery programs. On the House side, Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo, R-Calif., is pushing for an overhaul of the act. Draft legislation circulated before the August recess would narrow the definition of critical habitat and revamped conservation provisions in the law. The draft language was roundly panned by environmental groups. Pombo plans to introduce his bill mid-September. "We're still in negotiations with the Democrats," said committee spokesman Matthew Streit. "We're confident that we'll have a very solid bill in September, and we're looking forward to working with the Senate," he said. Source: CQ Today Round-the-clock coverage of news from Capitol Hill. © 2005 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved. To learn more about the Endangered Species Act, go to www.landrights.org www.saveourspeciesalliance.org Please forward this message as widely as possible. -- To unsubscribe from this mailing list; please visit http://governance.net and enter your email address.