PRESS RELEASE

Rep. Pombo is reaching back into his dusty, old propaganda archives for the text of his most recent ad and campaign literature. Once again he is leveling false accusations that protections for the threatened elderberry beetle were to blame for the failure of the Arboga levee on California's Feather River that resulted in the tragic death of three people.

"This is yet another example of Rep. Pombo putting out information he has to know is wrong in an effort to advance his well-known agenda to destroy our federal conservation laws, in this case the Endangered Species Act," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund. 

"Rep. Pombo must be desperate if he is resorting to old myths that were debunked nearly a decade ago to try to win votes," continued Schlickeisen.

In 1997, the California Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee conducted hearings to determine the cause of the deadly failure of the Arboga levee. The hearings concluded that the delay in repairing the levee was due to a disagreement over construction contracts, saying "the delay was created because the contract was wrong." In fact, there were no elderberry bushes or beetles anywhere near where the levee broke. After interviewing numerous witnesses over several days, the committee concluded that the California and federal endangered species acts and other environmental laws did not contribute to levee failure in 1997.

Schlickeisen added: "The public should remember that this is not the first time that Rep. Pombo has made up stories about the Endangered Species Act to serve his purposes. Earlier he actually testified before a U.S. Senate committee that he had been personally and financially harmed by the act of a federal agency to designate protected habitat for the San Joaquin kit fox on his land. Later he had to admit that no such habitat was designated and that he wasn't harmed."

"Rep. Pombo obviously has trouble with the truth when it comes to our environmental protection laws. Now he is throwing old spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks in a shameful attempt to blame the Endangered Species Act for everything that goes wrong in this world," said Schlickeisen.

Learn the facts about Richard Pombo's elderberry ad.