News came out last week that, in defiance of the advice of government scientists and the requirements of the Endangered Species Act, the Bush White House refused to allow rules to protect severely endangered North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) from speeding shipping vessels. North Atlantic Right whales are so rare now that biologists estimate that if even one pregnant female is hit by a shipping vessel and killed, that death alone could cause the extinction of the species.
Congressman Tom Allen of Maine, who is running for U.S. Senate this year, has introduced legislation that would confront the Bush White House’s evasions, and specifically require federal government regulations to reduce the number of collisions between ahipping vessels and North Atlantic right whales. Economists have already run the numbers, and concluded that the expense to the trans-Atlantic shipping industry would be very slight.
Nine other members of the U.S. House of Representatives have joined Congressman Allen in cosponsoring this bill. Not all of them come from states bordering the Atlantic Ocean. They just have the sense and decency to know an important issue when they see one. Please share their good judgment. Call your member of the House of Representatives and ask for a cosponsorship of Allen’s bill, H.R.5536.
The following are the cosponsors of this legislation:
Lois Capps
Sam Farr
Charles Gonzalez
Maurice Hinchey
Mazie Hirono
George Miller
Dennis Moore
James Moran
Steven Rothman
