A group representing farmers in Washington State and Oregon is urging the Interior Department to convene the “God squad” — an interagency committee empowered to override the Endangered Species Act — over complaints that the act’s protections on salmon are hurting growers and others.
The Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association “is frustrated with court rulings it says favor fish over people, claiming the committee could end years of legal challenges over United States dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers and bring stability for irrigators, power generators, and other businesses that rely on the water,” reports The Christian Science Monitor.
The God squad, so named because its decisions can lead to the extinction of a species, has only been convened three times before, including in 1992 when it voted to ignore protections for spotted owl habitat in the Northwest and to greenlight timber harvesting.
Ryan Zinke, head of Interior, would have to convene the committee, which he would then chair and would include representatives from the EPA and other agencies, as well as officials from Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
“If five of the federal committee members agree, they could exempt U.S. agencies from Endangered Species Act requirements for one or more of the 13 species of salmon and steelhead listed since the early 1990s,” says the Monitor. The irrigation association says it has already scheduled a meeting with Zinke, though his office would’t confirm that.