Northern Long-Eared Bat

Floor Speech

Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, yesterday the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced it will extend the deadline on its decision whether to list the northern long-eared bat as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in order to further review public comments on the proposal. The announcement comes in response to a letter initiated by members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation outlining the lack of sufficient data used to support the designation and cautioning that moving forward with the listing would constitute a fundamentally ineffective approach to species restoration while severely harming the economy.

The Service initially cited the effects of the white-nose syndrome as the lone basis for its proposed endangered listing. Although the disease is impacting the long-eared bat in areas of 38 States, the Service has acknowledged that the economic activities that would be most affected by the proposed listing have little impact on the population numbers or the decline of the species.

Madam Speaker, this extension will allow for a fresh look at the sufficiency and the accuracy of the data and, with any hope, will allow the Service to consider a better alternative or more effective approach to combat the white-nose syndrome.

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