8127

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8127
• Author: Wydoski, R. S., D. A. Smith, K. M. Schreiner and J. E. Johnson.
• Title: 1977 Annual Conference Western Association of Game and Fish Commissioners and Western Division, American Fisheries Society Tuscon, Arizona.
• USFW Year: 1977.
• USFW - Doc Type: n.d.
• Copyright Material: YES

"
Soon both the Senate and the House will be holding overview hearings on the
Endangered Species Act, with particular emphasis on Section 7. This section
of the Act directs Federal agencies not to jeopardize the continued existence
of an endangered or threatened species, and not to modify their critical
habitats. Congress passed the Act in December of 1973 by an overwhelming
majority in both Houses, and they did it with enthusiasm. They passed the
Act kno~ling that its heart and sQul was Section 7. 1hey knew that Section 7
had teeth, and that those teeth had keen cutting edges. They were roundly
applauded for their actions by environmentalists, conservationists, and fish
and wildlife managers alike.

Then came Meramac Park Dam and the Indiana bat, Interstate Highway 1-10 and
the Mississippi sandhill crane, and Tellico Dam and the snail darter. Out
in the bushes of Maine lurked the furbish lousewort in the flood basin of
the proposed Dickey-Lincoln project. A few congressmen suddenly developed
an intense interest in Section 7. Certain Federal agencies started suggesting
in various ways that the Congress had created an unworkable law if ~/e were
to have orderly development of this Nation's resources. Now more congressmen
have taken an interest in the Act. Today there are no less than six bills
on the Hill that would, in one way or another, weaken Section 7, and some
would essentially invalidate it. There will be more amendments proposed by
this Congress before it is through.

Realistic administration of the Endangered Sepcies Act at the Federal level
in this case means taking the position that the Secretary of the Interior,
Mr. Cecil Andrus, has taken and \-lill vigorously support. Assistant Secretary
Bob Herbst referred to this in his keynote address.

The Act is not rigid and inflexible-- it is in fact practical, workable, and
soundly conceived, and we can prove it. As Mr. Herbst stated, out of
approximately 4,500 consultations with Federal agencies that have occurred
to date, only three have resulted in major confrontations, and of these three
confrontations only one appears unsolvable at this time by the concerned
Federal agencies. In all other cases, differences have been resolved, and
most of them were resolved rather simply and quickly so that the endangered
species and their habitats were relatively unaffected, and most of the projects
involved were built. This Administration doesn't believe this record sounds
like the Endangered Species Act is an inflexible, unyielding law that will
stop all progress in the United States.

This is not to say that there won't be some confrontations in the future--
there will be and probably there should be. But when two Federal agencies
get together early in the planning stage, and they both have a sincere
desire to get on \'lith the construction and development needed in this country
while damaging the environment minimally, it can and will be done most of
the time.

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