Environment And Land Use Chair Paul Weiland Quoted In Law360 On Proposed ESA Reforms

Paul Weiland was recently quoted in the Law360 article Republican ESA Reform Proposals Face Uphill Battle.  The article discusses how Republicans in Congress and the current administration have recently focused their efforts on weakening the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  Mr. Weiland commented on elements of draft legislation introduced by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., that would amend the act in several ways, including giving states more say in the federal process to list or not list a species as endangered or threatened under the act. 

One of the new ideas in Barrasso’s bill would compel the FWS director to collect feedback from each state’s government regarding the performance of FWS employees.  Commenting on this provision, Mr. Weiland said, It seems out of place for Congress to be injecting itself in that way.  I think that in terms of personnel decisions and personnel feedback, that should be able to be handled without congressional involvement of that sort.  Mr. Weiland added that there may be other parts of the bills that are better ideas, but that they don’t stand much of a chance of passage.  I think that it seems like an uphill battle to get the Senate bill through, he said.  And I think the chances are even less for the House legislation.  For the last few years [the House] has been able to introduce and even pass a number of ESA reform measures, but they’ve done that even when those have no chance of moving in the Senate.

The full article can be read here (Paid Subscription Required).