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| Steve Pearce |
Roswell, NM (April 27, 2011) Congressman Steve Pearce responded to claims by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that listing the dunes sagebrush lizard as endangered will not kill jobs yesterday. Congressman Pearce was told by top officials in Fish and Wildlife that Fish and Wildlife does not have to consider jobs when deciding on this matter. These comments were made during a meeting with the office of the director of Fish and Wildlife last month. Fish and Wildlife has admitted that economic considerations do not play into decisions to list a species, which raises the question of their basis for making any economic claims. Nonetheless, Fish and Wildlife talking heads have chosen to publicly claim that no jobs will be lost by the listing, even while ignoring repeated requests for economic data.
“Fish and Wildlife is making economic claims without facts,” said Pearce. “My office has asked for data from Fish and Wildlife on how jobs will be impacted, and they claim they don’t have the information.” Fish and Wildlife recently contested claims that listing the dunes sagebrush lizard as endangered would be a job killer, saying these statements are “absolutely not true.” However, the comments came not from economists, but from a spokesperson and an ecologist, who offer no economic data. Congressman Pearce has advocated for the CCA and CCAA—agreements by local private and public entities to work to preserve the species without an endangered listing. Fish and Wildlife has said that “economic development and conservation are not diametrically opposed concepts.” Congressman Pearce wholeheartedly agrees with this statement, which is why he has urged Fish and Wildlife to allow these agreements time to work. As Fish and Wildlife has made clear, once a listing is made, they will make no efforts to preserve jobs. Congressman Pearce therefore advocates an approach wherein all parties continue to work together to protect jobs and the lizard.
A 2005 working group document, to which Fish and Wildlife was a leading agency, acknowledged the devastating economic impact of an endangered species listing, and advocated other, voluntary measures, like the agreements advocated by Congressman Pearce: “Land management decisions that restrict or preclude full mineral development of certain state and federal lands thus affect the flow of revenues into local and state economies.” Furthermore, the document stated: “...ranchers who voluntary adopt grazing practices intended to benefit at-risk species should receive appropriate economic compensation, as well as protection from future additional regulatory burdens in the event of listing.”
It was based on these assertions that the CCA and CCAA agreements were established, to engage all concerned parties. Nonetheless, Fish and Wildlife has now reversed these claims and is acting with utter disregard for the economy of southeastern New Mexico and west Texas. Furthermore, Pearce pointed out that it is concerning that Fish and Wildlife is speaking out in favor of the listing while they are still taking public comments on the issue and certainly before any final decision has been made. “It is alarming that Fish and Wildlife seems to have already made their decision while the public comment period remains open,” said Pearce. “My constituents have a legal right to a voice in this matter, without prejudice or bias.” Congressman Pearce will attend a rally to oppose the listing tomorrow night, Thursday, April 28, at the Great Southwest Aviation Airport Hangar in Roswell, NM at 5:00 pm, just before the end of the verbal public comment period on the issue. All concerned individuals are encouraged to attend.
Job Killers in Charge at Dept. of Fish and Wildlife
From KRQE-TV.com - Inside a towering fortress on the grounds of the National Hispanic Cultural Center, museum patrons will find both an artistic masterpiece and a government scandal involving hundreds of thousands of misspent taxpayer dollars. Santa Fe artist Frederico Vigil spent nearly a decade creating a 4,000-square-foot fresco mural depicting centuries of Hispanic culture and history. But the fresco itself is not controversial. The money behind it is. "There's a right way and a wrong way to spend taxpayer money," said Rick May, secretary of the New Mexico Department of Finance. "This project was the wrong way." A Larry Barker investigation discovered almost half-a-million dollars in state tax money earmarked for Vigil's work of art was illegally diverted by a former high-ranking state official and inappropriately spent by a private foundation. "This could be test case of how government is not supposed to work," May said. State legislators funded the fresco project with $812,500 in appropriations. Because the fresco was to be part of a state museum -- the National Hispanic Cultural Center -- the state Department of Cultural Affairs was in charge of the money. That's where the trouble began. Instead of accounting for the money, former Cultural Affairs Secretary Stuart Ashman simply gave it away to the Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation, a private organization. The foundation is the fundraising arm of the Hispanic Cultural Center. "This transaction ... was not by the book in any way shape and form," May said. "It was completely, completely the wrong way to use taxpayers' money." Veronica Gonzales, current secretary of the cultural affairs department, agreed, saying she can find no records indicating the money was properly spent. In addition, she said the transfer of the $812,500 violated state law. "This money should have been safeguarded through the Department of Cultural Affairs' oversight and accountability," Gonzales said. But it wasn't. Read more from KRQE-TV.com
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