Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Ms. PINGREE. Mr. Chair, I certainly appreciate my colleague from New York suggesting that he is very much in favor of the balance between conservation and supporting our commercial fishermen. Being from the State of Maine, we certainly look at both of those things. I will look forward to working with him, but I do think this amendment is an attack on our national monument Antiquities Act policies, and it should be recognized as that.

I do understand his concern about the inclusion of groups and the importance of a public input process. In New England, we take that very seriously. I agree with him that there is a vital need in the monument designation process for local voices to be heard, but the way to ensure that that occurs is not by an amendment that would stop monument designations in their tracks, and it is certainly not by stopping monument designation powers in the entire exclusive economic zone, the EEZ area.

Today we should be talking about the importance of public input in the monument process, about the importance of an open and transparent process that uses common sense. Instead, we are debating an amendment that sends the wrong message about this important conservation tool for our oceans.

I urge my colleagues to oppose this attempt to stop local coordination, collaboration, and information sharing. I do hope that the gentleman from New York and I and the other people who represent coastal communities can find a way to balance conservation and our fishing industries and work together on that.

For now, I oppose the Zeldin amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. PINGREE. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

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Ms. PINGREE. Mr. Chair, I am very happy to support this amendment, and I want to thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding time and for his commitment to this issue and the preservation of the Endangered Species Act.

There are many of us in Congress concerned about the continual assault that is being waged against the ESA. On an appropriations bill, and particularly the one before us today, we see attempts to reduce the scope of the Endangered Species Act and to continue to weaken its protections.

We must continue to work with the Fish and Wildlife Service to make sure they are hearing from all stakeholders and taking their concerns seriously. But that does not mean we get rid of the ESA.

We have so many strong examples of how the Endangered Species Act works and worked over the past 40 years. One of my favorites that my colleagues often hear me speak of is the success of the bald eagle and the fact that it now thrives in Maine, where it was once endangered. Where they were only once 30 nesting pairs in Maine, now there are over 630 nesting pairs of bald eagles in Maine.

There are so money other success stories, from the peregrine falcon to the brown pelican to the sea otter. All of these success stories were based on sound science and local input through the Fish and Wildlife Service.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

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