{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.daines.senate.gov/2024/07/10/daines-pushes-for-delisting-of-grizzly-bear-population-five-months-past-review-deadline/", "Daines Pushes for Delisting of Grizzly Bear Population Five Months Past Review Deadline", "2024-07-10", "2024", "2024-07", "Republican", "Senate", "MT", "Steve Daines", "D000618", "www.daines.senate.gov", "daines", "https://www.daines.senate.gov/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "DOI Assistant Secretary Thanks MT for Stewardship of Grizzlies, States the Grizzly Bear \u201cHas Recovered\u201d\n\nU.S. Senator Steve Daines today at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing pushed for the delisting of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystems and called out the delay in the delisting review, despite the two grizzly populations being well over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service\u2019s recovery targets. Current Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks and President Biden\u2019s nominee for Department of the Interior (DOI) Deputy Secretary, Shannon Estenoz, agreed that the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem bears have recovered.\n\nWatch Daines\u2019 Remarks HERE.\n\nDaines: So last February, of course, the FWS initiated, not a 17-month status review, it\u2019s called a 12-month status review for a reason. If they were to initiate a 17-month status review, we\u2019d be expecting the result here this month, but it\u2019s a 12-month status. The data is very compelling in terms of where the recovery target is, where the actual populations are\u2026 My question is: Would you help us and focus on getting this 12-month review done that should have been completed in February?\n\nEstenoz: Senator, so, thank you, and it\u2019s good to talk grizzlies with you again. First of all, let me acknowledge that I agree with you 100 percent. Not that my agreement matters because the facts are what they are. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem population is recovered. The numbers from 2022, 965. Not only that, as I said earlier, the Northern Continental Divide population is also recovered at more than 1,100 bears. And we do have this petition in front of us that\u2019s asking us to delist the GYE as a distinct population segment. It\u2019s that definition that, you know, we\u2019re working through\u2026We\u2019ve tried to do that before. We\u2019ve tried to do that twice before and the courts have rejected it. So we\u2019re working through that, we\u2019re working through our delisting criteria. And in the meantime, I want to say, because I didn\u2019t say it earlier when we were chatting about grizzlies, I just\u2013 I need to say for the record how grateful we are to both Montana and Wyoming for the stewardship of grizzly bears. And grizzly bears are doing well in those states because the states are taking good care of grizzly bears. And we know that. And then I also want to say for the record that we want grizzlies to be recovered and delisted. I want to say that without reservation. We want that. I want that for all of our listed species, right? A delisting is a celebration. But as I mentioned, in the ESA, the path that you use to get there also matters. It\u2019s not just the listing decision, it\u2019s the path you take that\u2019s often what courts will attack. So we want to make sure we\u2019ve got the path right.\n\nDaines: Yeah, thank you, and agree. But there\u2019s no reason we can\u2019t get this 12-month study wrapped up. We\u2019re at 17 months\u2026 you all the Interior can decide to slow roll this thing to the election, if you\u2019d like. I think that\u2019s a big mistake. I think it violates the integrity of this process if we don\u2019t just commit to the 12-month review. It should have been done in February, it\u2019s now the middle of July.\n\nEstenoz: Yeah, Senator, I can assure you that this process is running based on what the needs of the process are. And I agree with you, you know, driving toward, you know, a decision as soon as possible.\n\nDaines: When\u2019s it going to be done?\n\nEstenoz: Well\u2026 I don\u2019t have a date for you but as I mentioned to you when we met a couple of weeks ago, this issue\u2026it\u2019s in the top five for the Fish and Wildlife Service\u2019s leadership, I can tell you. Martha\u2019s been out to Montana and Wyoming now a couple of times in the last month. So, this is a top priority and I want to stay in touch with you also in the days and weeks ahead.\n\nDaines: I\u2019m just a little skeptical that we\u2019re going to see this get done before the election. I just think we need to get it done just for the sake of the bears, for the sake of the process. I hope we can dissolve the politics; we might be able to, and stay focused on the science and get this done. I realize you want to get a solid review done so it protects ourselves when we get litigated in court, but\u2026If we gave you two years, I\u2019m afraid you\u2019d come back here and say we\u2019re at 36 months and still thinking about it.\n\nEstenoz: I appreciate that. I appreciate that Senator, you\u2019re right and we have, you know, it\u2019s a little bit further complicated because we have three petitions before us that are all related, you know, and so I appreciate it and as always, I will stay in contact with your office in the days and weeks to come.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:24:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.daines.senate.gov/2024/07/10/daines-pushes-for-delisting-of-grizzly-bear-population-five-months-past-review-deadline/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9526750072836876, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}