Congress Removes Endangered Species

This is the first time ever that Congress is messing around with the Endangered Species list. The Congressional budget slashed the Environmental Protection Agency's budget by $1.6 billion or a 16-percent reduction. The end result was the de-listing of the gray wolves from the list maintained by the Fish and Wildlife Service under the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

This is in direct conflict to a ruling by the Federal Court District that I wrote about in August of 2010. You can read it here.

Why did the Congress go after the wolves? It appears to be political. According to media reports, "Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester was facing a nearly impossible re-election as long as wolves were under federal protection." A federal budget bill has passed after weeks of tumultuous debate and now the wolves are removed from the endangered list.

The gray wolf removal from the endangered list is a first for Congress as they boldly go where no Congress has ever tread before. "The rider puts the management of grey wolves in the hands of both Montana and Idaho" according to sources monitoring the historic event.

Fred Cheever with the University of Denver's Sturm School of Law had this to say, "Everything is a bargaining chip, from bombers to baby care. Riders aren't limited to the Endangered Species Act."

Speaking of endangered, do you know which bird is the most endangered in North America? The answer, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the whooping crane, the USFWS stated that the "Whooping crane is one of the most, if not the most, endangered birds in North America."

I could get tongue in cheek here and say that "Middle America is the most endangered species overall."

Sources:

http://us.vocuspr.com/Newsroom/Query.aspx?SiteName=fws&Entity=PRAsset&SF_PRAsset_PRAssetID_EQ=115700&XSL=PressRelease&Cache=True

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/us/politics/13wolves.html

http://www.fws.gov/endangered/

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/04/us-congress-removes-wolves-from-endangered-species-list----a-legislative-first.php

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/04/18/3560945/environmental-groups-get-caught.html

http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Library/Mammals/Gray-Wolf.aspx

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/NorthAmerica/Facts/fact-graywolf.cfm