Push to Endangered Species Act sparks lobbying blitz
Action in Congress and the Trump administration to overhaul the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is spurring a lobbying frenzy.
Industries that have long sought to reduce the compliance burden of protecting imperiled animal and plants species are seizing a rare moment with a Republican Congress and White House that are sympathetic to their cause.
It’s been more than a dozen years since policymakers have shown such an interest in overhauling the ESA, and industries including agriculture, energy and developers are working hard to get something across the finish line.
“This is an extremely important time, because the opportunity is there to make changes,” said Richard Pombo, a lobbyist and former congressman from California who led the last major effort, in 2005, to comprehensively change the ESA. His measure passed the House, but not the Senate, and he lost reelection 2006, due in part to those efforts.
“It’s probably the best we’ll have in terms of Congress and an administration willing to make changes that in previous years were much more difficult,” he said.
Even if significant reform doesn’t happen this time around, lobbyists are happy that the issue has taken on such a high profile.
“We’re extremely excited,” said one energy industry lobbyist. “The more that this issue of the problems with the Endangered Species Act can be raised, the more progress can be made toward changing the narrative and presenting creative solutions.”
Meanwhile, conservationists who see the GOP efforts as a threat to bedrock environmental protections are also mobilizing, betting that the public will be put-off enough by the proposals that decisionmakers will be pressured to drop them.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/406404-push-to-change-wildlife-act-sparks-lobbying-blitz
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