http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/08/16/news/casper/8960626e85a656ce87256ef000723a6e.txt

 

Thomas names ESA hearing witnesses

By the Associated Press Monday, August 16, 2004

U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., has released the list of witnesses who will testify this month at a congressional field hearing on the status of the Endangered Species Act.

Thomas will chair the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee field hearing beginning at 9 a.m. Aug. 23 at the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission building, 2211 King Blvd. in Casper.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Fisheries, Wildlife and Water Subcommittee will focus on the impacts of the act and examine ways to improve it.

Testimony will be taken from federal, state and local officials, as well as representatives from agriculture, the mining industry and wildlife groups.

The witness list includes Mark Rey, USDA undersecretary for natural resources and environment; Julie MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks for the Interior Department; Randall Luthi, majority floor leader of the Wyoming House; Terry Cleveland, director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department; Sleeter Dover, director of the Wyoming Transportation Department; and Alden Prosser, Platte County commissioner.

Also scheduled to speak are Olin Sims, president of the Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts; Dru Bower, vice president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming; Mark Winland, president of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation; Robert Wharff, executive director of Wyoming Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife; and Terry Anderson, executive director of the Property and Environment Research Center.

"I can't think of a federal policy that has had a larger impact on landowners, public land managers, communities and state governments," Thomas said in a statement. "Over time, it has become profoundly evident that we need to revise the Endangered Species Act and how it is being implemented. While we toil in lawsuits about species' habitats, we have lost sight of the real motivation of this act -- the recovery of species."

Thomas noted that now, more than ever, lawsuits seem to be the driving force behind U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decisions. Congress needs to readdress this issue to establish sound policies so that lawsuits become the exception, not the rule, he said.