ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT RESTORED IN HOUSE REVOLT BY DEMOCRATS

By a 224-204 vote, Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) successfully led a revolt against the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives, stripping a provision in the FY 2012 Interior and Environment appropriations bill that would have blocked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from listing new species under the Endangered Species Act.

UPDATE

“This rider would have been a death sentence for our nation’s most endangered species,” Natural Resources Defense Council Lands and Wildlife program director Andrew Wetzler responds. “It is refreshing to see Congress make clear that the Endangered Species Act remains essential today. But other riders are looming in this appropriations bill that would pollute our air, foul our water, and remove wildlife protections.”