Flood Victims Argue For Eased Species Act

Members of Congress and California landowners called Thursday for relaxation of the Endangered Species Act, saying it was responsible for millions of dollars of property damage in last winter’s devastating floods there.

Witnesses told the House Resources Committee that the act’s provisions kept them from properly maintaining levees and other flood-control systems in California, contributing to their failure when the floodwaters came.

They urged passage of a bill sponsored by Reps. Richard Pombo and Wally Herger, both California Republicans, that would let workers conduct basic maintenance on the levees without first submitting to what they say is a cumbersome review process intended to make sure the work does not harm threatened plants or animals.

“These regulations are a recipe for disaster,” said Christopher Lee, trustee for a California reclamation district. “The levees keep water off our homes, farms, businesses and residences. Get the federal government off our back so we can do our job.”

Defenders of Wildlife, an environmental group that strongly supports the Endangered Species Act, criticized the bill in a statement as “another attempt by opponents of the ESA in Congress to weaken protections for threatened and endangered species.”

Deputy Interior Secretary John Garamendi and other witnesses said the Endangered Species Act had been wrongly blamed for the flood damage in California.