FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 13, 2008
Contact: Kristina Johnson
415.977.5619
McCain Silent on Bush Assault on Endangered Species Act;
Obama Would Defend Scientists, Protect Threatened Wildlife
San Francisco, Calif.--On Monday the Bush administration
announced a plan to gut the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and take
protection of wildlife out of the hands of seasoned agency scientists
and put it into the hands of political appointees and others not
qualified to make such determinations.
A spokesman for Senator Barack Obama today said that Obama would throw
out the plan if elected. Meanwhile, Senator McCain refused to
comment on the issue. But McCain's voting record shows an alarming
pattern of supporting politics over science in endangered species
decision-making.
In 1995, McCain voted to prohibit the addition of any new species to
the endangered species list. (S. 889, Roll Call Vote 106
http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=-cYoFL5BDXW6Kgg_y2Z9kA..
, 3/16/1995), and cast the deciding vote to effectively continue the
listing moratorium in 1996 (vote to table S.Amdt.3479 to H.R. 3019,
Roll Call Vote 30
http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=P7IJ9SCCJn8walBYdPdTqw..
, 3/13/1996). He has also voted against enforcement of ESA
regulations on several other occasions.
Statement of Sierra Club Political Director Cathy Duvall:
"A politician is not the best judge of whether or not an animal is in
danger. By voting to stop new listings of endangered species, Senator
McCain put politics and special interests ahead of science and
critical protections for our wildlife. And now he won't
even comment on the latest effort by the Bush administration to gut
one of our nation's most important environmental laws."
"When it comes to protecting wildlife, we need to listen to the
scientists who have spent their lives studying these animals. Senator
Obama has indicated a commitment to making decisions based on science
rather than politics--not just when it comes to Endangered
Species listings, but on many other fronts."
"If John McCain is elected, we'll see more of what we've seen under
the Bush administration, including political meddling in science,
distortion of facts, and silencing of wildlife experts. If John
McCain the candidate is unwilling to even speak out against an assault
on one of our nation's bedrock environmental laws, it
doesn't seem likely a President McCain would do much to protect
them either.
"If these Bush administration regulations had been in place twenty
years ago, we would not have brought the bald eagle back from the
brink of extinction. Senator Obama understands that the protection of
our wildlife should be left to scientists, not politicians.
"John McCain wants to have it both ways. He says he
supports renewable energy, but then votes against it. He says he
supports environmental protection, but then votes against enforcing
some our nation's most important environmental laws. He
says he'll put science before politics, but then stands silently
by while the Bush administration continues its unlawful assault on
science and the law. It's time for John McCain to be
honest and give voters some real straight talk about his record on
these important issues."
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