Born Free USA signed onto a letter in opposition to Section 1246 of H.R. 302, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, which unnecessarily harms the integrity of the Endangered Species Act and will set back the recovery of the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales, as well as threatened and endangered species of salmon and steelhead in Oregon. Section 1246 requires that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) delay its implementation of a 2016 biological opinion completed by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The opinion determined that FEMA’s implementation of the National Flood Insurance Program was putting Southern Resident killer whales and 16 species of salmon and steelhead in jeopardy of extinction, and it recommended a series of conservation measures that would allow the agency to fulfill its mandate to implement the flood insurance program while protecting endangered species from substantial harm. Section 1246 gives FEMA three extra years to comply with this biological opinion, putting these species at even greater risk of extinction due to this unnecessary delay.
Born Free USA Opposes Section 1246 of H.R. 302, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018
in ESA on September 27, 2018