Endangered Legislation

Renewal of the Endangered Species Act still is being thwarted in the Senate by a few members who have parochial and unjustified objections having little to do with the major purposes of the program. The passage of the bill is being delayed as a courtesy to those senators. The bill has been before the Senate since Dec. 9. Enough is enough. Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) should call the bill up for debate and a vote now.

Some Rocky Mountain senators have objected because the law does not allow states to set open hunting seasons on threatened species like the wolf and the grizzly bear. Present law permits open hunting only when animal population pressures in a specific area cannot be relieved in any other fashion. Also, individual animals known to have killed livestock can be trapped or killed by wildlife officials. That is the way it should remain until the survival of these animals is assured.

The Defenders of Wildlife, the lead environmental organization supporting the bill, has offered to create a private fund for the compensation of ranchers for any livestock losses caused by wolves. The program would be administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This should relieve rancher fears about stock losses from the limited wolf population in the northern Rockies.

Sen. Howell Helfin (D-Ala.) has objected because of an existing regulation that requires shrimp fishermen to install devices in their nets to prevent the capture and drowning of threatened and endangered sea turtles. The House version of the endangered-species renewal contains a compromise provision that would delay the requirement for the turtle-excluder devices in bays and estuaries for two years. The shrimp industry is pushing for a delay or exclusion in offshore waters. The House version should prevail.

But the Senate cannot even vote on the proposed amendments unless the legislation comes to the Senate floor for consideration. Byrd should allow the measure to be called up immediately. The benefits of this program have been dramatic and far-reaching.