Poll: Americans Support ESA & Wolves

A recent poll commissioned by the Endangered Species Coalition found that Americans broadly support the Endangered Species Act and oppose politicians making wildlife decisions:

In spite of this, the U.S. Senate is currently considering a pair of continuing resolution budget bills in opposition to that public support.

The House version of the CR bill (HR 1) is the most at odds with this public support. Were it to pass both Houses of congress and be signed into law, the consequences would be far-reaching. 

Long standing water management agreements in California–that have saved multiple fish species–would be invalidated. The federal government would be prevented from regulating climate change causing carbon emissions. The ability of citizens like you and I to use the courts to pressure the federal government to enforce existing environmental and other federal laws would be significantly impacted. Perhaps worst of all, Northern Rockies wolves would be removed from elgibility for Endangered Species Act protections. This would not only affect the wolves but the decision by Congress to act to remove protections for a single species, something completely unprecedented, would make it easier for future politically “inconvenient” species to be de-listed legislatively.

The Senate version of the bill is thankfully free of much of the anti-environmental language. Unfortunately, what is potentially the most far-reaching piece of the bill–the unprecedented legislative de-listing of the wolf–remains.