SENATE BILL REPORT
SJM 8027
AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES,
FEBRUARY 6, 1992
Brief Description: Memorializing the endangered species act.
SPONSORS: Senators McDonald, Snyder, Amondson, Owen, Anderson and Barr
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES
Majority Report: Do pass.
Signed by Senators Metcalf, Chairman; Oke, Vice Chairman; Amondson, Barr, Conner, Owen, and Snyder.
Staff: Vic Moon (786‑7469)
Hearing Dates: February 6, 1992
BACKGROUND:
The declaration of several species of Washington as being threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act has caused considerable economic upheaval in the state of Washington. Such species include the spotted owl and the Columbia sockeye salmon.
SUMMARY:
The Endangered Species Act is before Congress for reauthorization in 1992. The memorial asks Congress to give consideration to social consequences of meeting biological needs and to give humans equal protection under the law. The experience of Washington with the northern spotted owl has been a public policy disaster leading to unemployment of tens of thousands of people. The Columbia sockeye salmon listing now underway will have substantial effects throughout the state.
The memorial asks that the Endangered Species Act be modified to ensure humans are given at least equal consideration to the development plans to save listed species. The memorial requests Congress to get a separate, true and complete accounting of total human, social and economic costs of saving each listed plant or animal to be completed by an agency apart from the agency charged with protecting the species. The memorial also asks Congress to require the entire nation to bear the cost of saving a species rather than just a person, state or local government who exist where the species lives.
Appropriation: none
Revenue: none
Fiscal Note: none requested
TESTIMONY FOR: None
TESTIMONY AGAINST: None
TESTIFIED: No one