position paper Endangered Species Act

PPRC Position Paper on the Endangered Species Act

Wood Products Industry employees support ESA reform

Protecting truly endangered species is in the best interests of the public. The regulations established to implement these interests should be based on sound science, not political science. The impact on people, property and jobs should be evaluated when making the regulations.

The ESA needs to be modernized and updated after thirty years.

The ESA mandate system is not working.
There should be Congressional oversight on the social and economic cost of an ESA listing.
The ESA should be on equal footing with, not superior to, all other laws.
The ESA needs to be absolutely based in objective and verifiable science.
The ESA should be a flexible and rational Act and apolitical in all decisions.
There should be a greater role for states and local governments in all ESA decisions.
State constitutional authority over plants and animals should be restored.
There should be compensation for private property owners when the ESA diminishes property values.
The act should be amended to ensure that the species will not be listed until a recovery plan is developed and appropriations are approved.

The PPRC believes the time for reform is now and only "real reform" will help both plants and

animals and preserve the American way of life.

The PPRC supports limiting the definition of threatened and endangered "species" to those species which are biologically unique, excluding those that are only geographically isolated from other populations of the same species.
The PPRC believes the ESA is about recovery of a species, not only about preventing extinction.
The PPRC wants to conserve the nation’s endangered species but wants it done in partnership with the federal government, not under the command-and-control authority of federal agencies.
The PPRC supports access to information used by the government in the ESA decision-making process.
The PPRC feels that in order to simplify the process and make the Act work, ESA decisions should be based on sound science and include a peer review of listing and recovery decisions.
The PPRC feels that true scientific facts and field data should be weighed more heavily than computer modeling.

The PPRC is a grassroots organization representing the interests of the Nation's pulp, paper, solid wood products, and other natural resource based workers. The U.S. forest products industry is vitally important to our nation's economy, employing 1.5 million people. We rank among the top 10 manufactures in 46 states with annual sales exceeding $230 billion, which accounts or 7% of the U.S. manufacturing shipments. We are people dedicated to conserving the environment while taking into account the economic stability of the workforce and surrounding community.

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Rev. 02-02-08