Dear Guardian,
Sometimes decisionmakers get nervous about the Endangered
Species Act, even supporters of the law.
In the face of howls of protest and a massive
misinformation campaign from the oil and gas industry, New Mexico Senators Jeff
Bingaman and Tom Udall recently supported an alternative to Endangered Species
Act protection for the imperiled dunes sagebrush lizard.
Tell Senators Bingaman and Udall you support Endangered Species Act protection for the dunes sagebrush lizard.
Frankly, we’re concerned that politicians are making
recommendations for what’s supposed to be a scientific decision—and not a
political one.
As
we write, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife is completing its final listing rule for
the lizard in accordance with WildEarth Guardians’ landmark species settlement
agreement.
New Mexico Representative Steve Pearce and industry representatives have loudly,
repeatedly—and falsely—exclaimed that listing will “shut down” oil and gas
development in the Permian Basin.
The
constant barrage may have caused New Mexico Senators Bingaman and Udall to
suggest that voluntary and unproven conservation measures for the dunes
sagebrush lizard are preferable to listing under the ESA.
Let’s remind the Senators that there is no better way to
protect imperiled species than to list them under the ESA. The ESA is our Nation’s most powerful environmental law and it is working as
Congress intended. More than 99 percent of species listed under the Act persist
today. Scientists estimate that 227 species would have gone extinct without the
law. Scores of listed species are recovering with federal protection. Congress
should embrace this progress and support listing more imperiled species under
the Act.
Please join WildEarth Guardians to thank Senators
Bingaman and Udall for their support of the ESA and ask for their support to
list the dunes sagebrush lizard under the Act.
