For Immediate Release: January 29, 2004

Contact: , American Bird Conservancy, 202/234-7181 ext. 207

Proposed Changes To Endangered Species Act To Benefit Chemical Giants

Changes to the Act Would Remove Wildlife Experts From The Decision-Making Process.
Hazardous Pesticides Like DDT Could Once Again Poison Endangered Species.

Following closed-door meetings with pesticide manufacturers, the federal government today proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act that could have a dramatic, negative effect on how America’s rarest birds and other wildlife are protected from the effects of toxic chemicals.

Due in part to the devastating impact of DDT in the 50s and 60s, the country’s most imperiled species are now protected by the Endangered Species Act. It is credited with helping prevent declines of many birds, including the Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, and Red-cockaded Woodpecker.

Until now, under the Act, all government agencies have been mandated to consult with experts at the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in cases where their actions may affect endangered species. Now the administration wants to change that by exempting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from this vital procedure. Instead, the EPA would be able decide at its own discretion whether or not to consult with FWS about the potential hazards of a chemical or specific pesticide application. If the EPA decided to re-instate DDT, wildlife experts would have no say in the matter.

“The irony is that the EPA has an extremely poor track record of consulting with biologists at the Fish and Wildlife Service,” said Dr. Patti Bright, Director of American Bird Conservancy’s Pesticide and Birds Campaign. “They have frequently only fulfilled their mandate to consult when forced to do so by the courts, based on suits brought by environmental groups. If EPA is no longer legally required to consult with endangered species experts, EPA regulators and government bureaucrats will be free to sanction pesticides that can kill endangered species.”

American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and other members of the National Pesticide Coalition were dismayed by the government’s action today, and fear that further evisceration of the Endangered Species Act by the current administration could follow. Two species protected by the Act, the Bald Eagle and the Piping Plover, have recently been at the center of controversial actions by EPA. In both cases the agency intended to permit the use of toxic chemicals that would have negatively impacted these rare species. The Endangered Species Act was cited by ABC and other conservation groups in successful campaigns to halt the EPA from their actions.

Hundreds pesticides are up for registration review by EPA in 2004, many of which could impact endangered species. Endangered species experts will have Wildlife experts could have no say in any of these chemicals if the government proposal goes through.

“There can be no reason for this change to the Act other than to excuse the EPA from upholding its task of protecting the environment,” said Bright. “The current system may be broken but rather than working collaboratively to fix it, EPA is proposing to simply dispose of it altogether. The winners here will be the pesticide industry and the losers will be wildlife and our future generations, who will lose the opportunity to enjoy it.”

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1 American Bird Conservancy is a not-for-profit organization concerned with the conservation of wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. ABC is the only U.S.-based group dedicated solely to overcoming the greatest threats facing birds in the Western Hemisphere. For more information visit www.abcbirds.org.

2 The National Pesticide Coalition is a consortium of environmental organizations concerned with the detrimental effects pesticides can have on America’s native wildlife, farm workers, children, and domestic animals. Working together for greater effectiveness, the Coalition aims to promote a better understanding of these concerns within government and industry.