Henry Bonilla: “it is time to reform the Endangered Species Act and our people have waited long enough. Private property owners are sick…”

“it is time to reform the Endangered Species Act and our people have waited long enough. Private property owners are sick and tired of the Federal Government stepping in and taking their land because the ESA cares more about bugs than about people. There has been a lot of talk in this Congress about reforming the ESA to make it work for people and species. I commend the gentleman from Alaska, Chairman Young, and the gentleman from California, Mr. Pombo, for the tremendous efforts in developing legislation to reform ESA. But this bill deserves our immediate attention. This is why I have chosen to go the extra mile for hard-working farmers and ranchers who have suffered the consequences of a bad law. Today I am beginning the process of submitting a discharge petition to get much-needed ESA reform to this floor as quickly as possible. The current ESA legislation has failed to recover species. The ESA has saddled property owners with outrageous fines because of Federal designation of critical habitat. ESA reform establishes a cooperative framework for these landowners to work together with the Government to protect species. The people of Texas want to conserve species and to protect the environment. I ask everyone in this Congress to support me and sign the Bonilla discharge petition.”