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21st Century Endangered Species Transparency Act

Floor Speech

Date: July 29, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Animals and Wildlife

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Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to speak in strong support of H.R. 4315, a commonsense package comprised of four bills that seek to update and improve the Endangered Species Act.

These bills make commonsense changes that increase transparency, save taxpayer money, ensure local involvement in species conservation and the designation process, limit the hourly rate attorneys can charge the taxpayers for Endangered Species Act lawsuits, and require the Federal Government to make available to Congress and the public any data it uses to determine which species to list as endangered. All of these are common sense.

Mr. Chairman, for far too long, the Federal Government has been making listing decisions based on secret and pseudoscience, including studies that do not allow for peer review of the underlying data.

Even more troubling is the fact that attorneys have been making millions of dollars based on frivolous lawsuits associated with the Endangered Species Act, and the Federal Government doesn't even know how much money has been paid out.

It is time to update the Endangered Species Act that involves America, is accountable to America, and is a win-win for everybody concerned.

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