[MCN] Senators Daines, Tester Introduce Bill Weakening Protections for Endangered Species

[Matthew Koehler]

See also:

Alternative facts from Tester and Daineshttp://helenair.com/news/
opinion/guest/alternative-facts-from-tester-and-daines/
article_f1307717-611f-5c30-a8da-62ebccd6262a.html

The February 25, 2015 Washington Post gave Senator Tester four Pinocchios,
the paper’s highest rating for politicians misrepresenting the truth, when
Tester asserted that “every logging sale” in the state was “under
litigation” and “nearly half of the awarded timber volume in Fiscal Year
2014 is currently under litigation.”

The Post’s renowned Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler, found instead that “in
2014, the Forest Service’s Northern Region, which includes Montana, met its
timber harvest goal for the first time in over 14 years. The region
harvested 280 million board feet — enough to build nearly 10,000 homes.”
Kessler added: “Given that Tester is the senior senator from Montana, his
comments on litigation in Montana’s national forests are embarrassingly
wrong. In both statements, he was wildly off the mark. He needs to brush up
on his facts — and his math — before he opines again on the subject.”

The Forest Service also met its timber harvest target again in 2015. I have
not seen the amount of logging reported yet for 2016, but the Great Falls
Tribune reported in February: “Logging in Helena-Lewis and Clark National
Forest best in decades.”

Unfortunately for Montanans, Tester didn’t take Kessler’s advice and
instead decided to emulate President Trump and douse us with “alternative
facts.” In a press release, Tester, joined by Senator Daines, the National
Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited, and a dozen logging and ranching
groups, claimed that environmentalists have shut down logging not just in
Montana but across the West.

As the IR reported from Tester’s and Daines’ press release: “The Forest
Service estimates 80 forest projects are on hold because of legal
challenges based on the Cottonwood decision in Regions 1, 2 and 4. Region 1
challenges include the East Reservoir Restoration Project in the Kootenai
National Forest and the Colt-Summit Restoration and Fuels Reduction Project
in the Lolo National Forest.”

But once again the truth, not Tester and Daines’ “alternative facts,” tells
a different story. A total of four logging projects in lynx critical
habitat are on hold over concerns for lynx critical habitat – which is a
long ways from the 80 projects the senators claim. These are the East
Reservoir Timber sale in the Kootenai National Forest, and the Bozeman
Watershed, East Boulder, and Greater Red Lodge timber sales in the
Custer-Gallatin National Forest.

The Forest Service proposed clearcutting over 5,000 acres and bulldozing
over 41 miles of new logging roads in lynx critical habitat with just these
four timber sales, which is why they were challenged in court. The harsh
reality, undeniably proven by all the best available science, is that more
logging leads to less lynx. If we’re going to protect critical habitat and
actually recover lynx as required by the Endangered Species Act, it’s time
to say no more road building and clearcuts in lynx critical habitat.

Furthermore, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals only ordered clearcutting
to be stopped in lynx critical habitat in Region One, not in Regions Four
and Two as Tester and Daines claim. Our senators also fail to mention that
the Forest Service already re-initiated consultation with the Fish and
Wildlife Service last November to comply with the Court Order, and assured
the Court it would be done in a few months, thus completely mooting
Tester’s and Daines’ “the sky is falling” scare tactic.

Montanans deserve facts on public policy issues, not D.C. lies. That means
Pinocchio Senators Tester and Daines must stop deceiving Montanans with
their “alternative facts” and start telling the truth.

* Mike Garrity is the executive director of the Alliance for the Wild
Rockies and a fifth generation Montanan.*



> For Immediate Release, March 15, 2017
>
> Contact: Jamie Pang, (202) 347-3737, jpang at biologicaldiversity.org
>
> Senators Daines, Tester Introduce Bill Weakening Protections for
> Endangered Species
>
> *Another Attempt to Overrule Courts and Slow Landscape-level Protections
> for Species*
>
> WASHINGTON— A proposed bill in Congress would reverse a 9th Circuit Court
> of Appeals decision from 2015 that required agency re-consultation for
> federal management plans regarding endangered species. The bill was
> introduced Monday by Montana senators Steve Daines, a Republican, and Jon
> Tester, a Democrat, joined by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) and Rep. Collin
> Peterson (D-Minn.).
>
> The ‘‘Litigation Relief for Forest Management Projects Act’’ would exempt
> the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management from consulting with
> the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries
> Service over already approved land-management plans when new species are
> protected as endangered or new critical habitat is designated. Such
> consultations help ensure that newly protected species are not jeopardized
> by ongoing management. A study from 2015
> <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/12/14/this-study-just-undermined-a-huge-myth-about-the-endangered-species-act/?utm_term=.d63e3a00016f> showed
> that not a single industry project was halted as a result of Section 7
> Consultation.
>
> “This bill is just another cynical attack to weaken a key provision of the
> Endangered Species Act,” said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the
> Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re deeply disappointed to see Senator
> Tester and Representative Peterson once again joining Republican efforts to
> undermine the Endangered Species Act. Federal land-management agencies can
> — and *should* — make needed updates to plans when new species are
> protected.”
>
> The 9th Circuit held in the 2015 *Cottonwood Environmental Law Center v.
> U.S. Forest Service*case that the Forest Service had violated the
> Endangered Species Act when it failed to reinitiate consultation for a
> logging plan after critical habitat on federal lands was designated for the
> Canada lynx. The court also, however, held that mere procedural violations
> were no longer enough to show irreparable harm and warrant injunctive
> relief, meaning that such consultations are not a major impediment to
> completing projects with little harm to endangered species. The Forest
> Service has also already completed or is near completing consultations over
> the lynx, as required by the court, calling into question the need for this
> legislation.
>
> “The Forest Service and BLM typically have years of notice before species
> or habitat receive protection and have become more proficient at working
> with the wildlife agencies to ensure that endangered wildlife aren’t
> negatively impacted by logging, mining and other activities,” said
> Suckling. “There is just no need for this legislation."
>
>
>
> *The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation
> organization with more than 1.2 million members and online activists
> dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.SOURCE: **http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/endangered-species-03-15-2017.php
> <http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/endangered-species-03-15-2017.php>*
>
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