Raúl Grijalva: “Supporters of this resolution, my Republican colleagues claim that protecting these species will upend timber industries…”

“Supporters of this resolution, my Republican colleagues claim that protecting these species will upend timber industries and forest management and a list of economic activities. That is simply not true. What specifically about forest management practice would be altered by the rule, especially given the preemptive consultations that the southern and eastern forest service regions completed last year. Last year, in anticipation of these new listing statuses, the U.S. Forest Service preemptively completed consultation on thousands of permits to ensure that they faced no delays in ongoing or previously approved projects with the new listing status. In addition, my colleagues and I secured over $1 billion in funding last year for Federal agencies to hire staff and expedite Federal permitting, but Republicans voted against that effort and are now pushing extreme CRAs to worsen the dire state of America's wildlife. It should be noted that bats are critically important to U.S. agriculture and timber industries. Bats have provided up to $53 billion yearly in pest control services to the U.S. agricultural industry. The northern long-eared bat provides these services throughout the 37 States that it inhabits. We keep seeing the signs about modernizing the Endangered Species Act. Republicans keep saying that they just want to modernize the Endangered Species Act, but this giveaway to dirty oil and gas looks like they want to monetize the Endangered Species Act.…”