California group pushes for Endangered Species God Squad

Less than 24 hours after a top Obama administration official rejected the idea of convening Endangered Species Committee to resolve California’s water woes, Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation launched a campaign to force the committee’s activation. The foundation sent letters to President Barack Obama and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger requesting they act to convene the committee, also known as the God Squad, said Rob Rivett, the foundation’s president. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar rejected the idea at a news conference in Fresno June 28. “That would be admitting failure. I am not about failure,” Salazar said. Under the Endangered Species Act, the special committee may be formed and empowered to override the law when it causes excessive destruction of jobs and the economy. “There’s a reason to have it in the statute,” Rivett said, “and there isn’t a better reason or circumstance than right now when we have an economy that is being devastated by the implementation of the Endangered Species Act." Salazar should take a step back to see what can be done that would modify “the Draconian measures that are being taken to try to save some of our farmworkers’ jobs and our farms,” he said. The foundation launched an online petition June 29, to be presented to the president, Salazar and Schwarzenegger. The petition is at www.pacificlegal.org, Rivett said...Packer