The Obama administration is taking steps to downgrade the endangered status of Florida’s manatees, but a senior Republican says the step ignores the threat the president’s climate change agenda poses to the iconic sea cows.
“This seems very ironical,” said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, after the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to downgrade the manatee’s status from “endangered” to “threatened.”
“The manatee’s recovery, according to the Obama administration, is contingent on preventing habitat loss tied to power plant closures,” Bishop said. “Despite this, the Obama administration’s carbon rule is likely to lead to the closure of plants providing critical warm water habitat to the manatee.”
The carbon rules, called the Clean Power Plan, require states to lower greenhouse gas emissions a third by 2030. More than half the country’s states and industry groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over the regulation, arguing that it is unconstitutional. Republicans also say it will close power plants, leading to high prices and an unstable electric grid.
“From the committee’s perspective this is a serious and unresolved conflict for both the manatee and the administration,” he said.
The Fish and Wildlife Service made its determination based on an analysis of threats to the gentle manatee, often referred to as the sea cow. The agency looked seriously at the heated water from power plants that pours into estuaries as part of their cooling process. The agency acknowledges that the sea cows have become dependent on the warm waters in the winter and the power plants are crucial to maintaining their habitat.
The service says many of the coal-fired power plants the manatees are dependent on have been converted to natural gas to comply with previous environmental regulations, but there are some that may still close depending on future compliance decisions.
The agency says the threat wasn’t enough to dissuade it from not downgrading the manatee’s status under the Endangered Species Act.
