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STATE OF WASHINGTON
County of Jefferson
IN THE MATTER OF A REQUEST TO }
CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT OF }
THE UNITED STATES TO MODIFY}
THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT}
RESOLUTION NO.55-94
WHEREAS, the Endangered Species Act is before the Congress for reauthorization in 1994 and,
WHEREAS, this Act is designed, especially in its initial phases, to emphasize exclusively the
biological needs of threatened or endangered species; and,
WHEREAS, the lack of consideration given to the social consequences of meeting these biological
needs leads to policies that focus too greatly on the animal or plant under review, and not on the humans
who are asked to sacrifice on behalf of that plant or animal; and,
WHEREAS, the Northern Spotted Owl and the Columbia River Sockeye Salmon are both in the
process of receiving special protection under the Endangered Species Act, decisions that have already had
far-reaching consequences over much of the State of Washington; and,
WHEREAS, the experience in Washington State with the Northern Spotted Owl has been a public
policy disaster, leading to the unemployment of tens of thousands of people whose livelihoods and dreams
were given far less consideration than was the bird being protected, leading in some cases to the economic
devastation of entire communities; and,
WHEREAS, many rightly fear that those who fish, those who farm, those who own property and
those who rely on electricity are all similarly threatened with disaster by the Columbia River Sockeye Salmon
listing now underway; and,
WHEREAS, it is distinctly unfair for federal policy-makers to set a national goal to save species and
then ask that only certain people bear the price of that goal through their loss of employment and their
private property;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that we respectfully pray that during consideration of
reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act, the Congress and the President work to modify that Act so
as to:
1.
Ensure that humans are given at least equal consideration to the development
of plans to save listed species; and
2.
Require a separate, true and complete accounting of the total human, social and
economic costs of saving each listed plant or animal, and a complete accounting
of these costs of not saving each listed plant or animal to be completed by an
agency of the federal government apart from that charged with protecting the
species, and prepared in close cooperation with state and local governments
located in the affected area; and,
3.
Ensure that the entire nation bear the costs of saving a species deemed worthy
of special protection, not just those persons or state or local governments who
exist nearby.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of this Resolution be immediately transmitted to the
Honorable William Clinton, President of the United States, to the President of the United States Senate, and
to the speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each member of Congress from the State of
Washington.
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J
, 1994.
SEAL:
JEFFERSON COUNTY
~--- BO D F COMMISSIONERS
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Lorna L. Delaney
Clerk of the Board
Glen Huntingford, Me er
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Richard E. Wojt, Member
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