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Testimony of Glen Spain (PCFFA) 



The ESA should not just be a species protection law, but a habitat 

 protection law as well. A species cannot live without a home to live 

 in. This is true of salmon as well as all other species. 



PCFFA supports H.R. 2043 as currently written. That does not 

 mean that the bill could not be improved. However, what is clear to 

 us is that the strongest possible ESA should be approved. If 

 anything, H.R. 2043 should be strengthened , not weakened. 



It is a false and short-sighted view to believe that good 

 environmental protection costs jobs. In the case of the salmon 

 industry, for instance, a s trong ESA will save many tens of thousands 

 of regional jobs and may be the only tool still available to save 

 badly depleted salmon stocks throughout the region. The source of all 

 economic wealth is the environment. A society such as ours degrades 

 its environment at its extreme peril. All too often what we thought 

 of as economic "progress" has turned out to be only a temporary 

 short-term blip in a long-term tale of environmental degradation 

 leading to downward spiraling economic and social disaster. 



With this testimony we also include a short paper entitled "The 

 Economic Imperative of Preserving Species from Extinction: The 

 Economic Rationale Behind Endangered Species Acts." This paper sets 

 forth the reasons a strong ESA makes economic sense and should be 

 supported by society as a whole. Any temporary inconvenience it may 

 cause to specific industries is clearly outweighed by its long-term 

 economic utility. If protection of species may cost job dislocations 

 in the short-run, extinction of species costs jobs in the longest 

 possible time frame — forever. For every species lost society loses 

 economic opportunities and limits its economic future in ways that can 

 hardly even be foreseen. 



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