Sam Farr: “Mr. Chairman, let us think about it for a minute. We would think that there was never a disaster in America before the…”

“Mr. Chairman, let us think about it for a minute. We would think that there was never a disaster in America before the Endangered Species Act. That act was adopted when Nixon was President in 1972. We wait until 1997 to get up and say that all the floods in California were a result of the Endangered Species Act? Then what they do is to bring an amendment to the floor which, frankly, the reason we are having such a long debate on is that it was very poorly drafted. It was poorly drafted because it opens a huge hole. If we look on page 2, and I hope all of us will read these bills, because that is what we are sworn in office to do as lawmakers, it says on line 21 that the consultation and conferencing under the paragraphs in this bill are not required for any agency; not required, not required. This is the big loophole. Mr. Chairman, before coming to the Congress I served in the California Legislature. I drafted bills that created water districts and irrigation districts. Before that I was on the board of supervisors. I sat on water districts and irrigation districts, and on air boards and transportation boards. The reason we have the consultation process in law is so we can avoid the unforeseen problems that come about when you start tampering with nature. If we are going to do levees and build dams and operate them, we are going to have downstream effects. Those downstream effects can affect people's livelihood.”