Steve Daines

I believe the ESA should not be focused primarily on listing the species. It should be focused on recovering the species.

These issues we are talking about are critically important for our future.

Many view the enforcement of the ESA as being driven by litigation or the threat of litigation, which in turn distracts from species conservation.

As Congressman Lummis said, conservation for the 21st century. I believe it can be private based.

That is just not common sense. I mean, that just tells you what is wrong.

The Obama administration has also dramatically increased the designation of critical habitat, and has imposed actions that have been detrimental to economic growth.

the Obama administration through Executive orders, Federal regulation, and settlement driven ESA listings, and habitat designations, is unfortunately waging a renewed war on the West

The spotted owl is a great example of how the ESA wrongly destroyed an industry and people's lives.

I appreciate that comment, too, that there is always political science going on back in the Beltway.

The first one is when somebody from DC comes and says, 'We are here to help.'

It seems like our Federal Government then blames humans as a primary cause versus looking at some of these naturally occurring processes in this very complex ecosystem.

This law is well intentioned. This is about trying to find reforms to the ESA going forward.

The ESA and the decision to list or delist should be based on sound science and not politics.

I think most of us here in Montana believe that Washington, DC should look more like Montana, not the other way around.

the goal here is we are trying to find ways to ensure we keep the sage grouse off the ESA

It is obvious that the population of grizzly bears in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem is being underestimated for political purposes.

We don't hear that very often back in Washington, DC, so thank you for that.

When the actions of these groups and those in our government agencies create the very problems we are seeing today, I find this dishonest and unacceptable.

We hunt sage grouse in Montana.

Congress, in the short term, really needs to take a look at that time schedule that is under effect on all of those species that are under the sue and settle agreement and see if we cannot push that date back.

We were happy in Montana seeing the gray wolf finally de-listed in 2011.

Montana is undergoing its own planning process for sage grouse conservation as we speak.

We want to be able to play in the outdoors as outdoors people, but we also need jobs.

The ESA has become a listing tool that restricts activities and not a management tool for the recovery of species.

In my view, this project should have been started years ago.