Newhouse Wants To See the ESA Updated

An effort is underway to try and reform the Endangered Species Act after over a half-century of what some have called an “abysmal failure”.  House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, and Central Washington’s Dan Newhouse, have introduced the ESA Amendment Act.

“Which is a product of a working group that we put together early in this Congressional term to look at those things that we could do to improve and truly get back on track the goals and the mission of the Endangered Species Act, truly focus on the actual recovery of species,” Newhouse said.  “It’s really turned into something beyond what it was meant to be. Over the 50, I think 51-year history of the ESA, the percentage of endangered species that have been put on this list, the percentage coming off is like 1%-2%, 3%.”

Newhouse, Chair of the Congressional Western Caucus, said one of the big problems is those who confuse preservation and conservation.

"A lot of people want to preserve things as they are today, never touch them. Just put a fence up around a lot of critical areas and critical habitat. Conservation is a way for us to protect those things, but also utilize the natural resources that are there to our benefit.”

Newhouse said only in the federal government would a 3% success rate be considered acceptable, proving, he noted, that the ESA needs reform.

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