01 Mar 2012 Occupy Occupy D.C. Calls for Cease Fire in Obama’s War on Nature

Interior Department Puts Hit Out on Barred Owls, Proving Folly of Endangered Species Regulations

Washington, D.C. – Members of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s “Occupy Occupy D.C.” street team will rally against the Obama Administration’s new policy to kill the barred owl in deference to the spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest on Thursday at noon in Washington D.C.’s Freedom Plaza (13th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW).

“After decades of sidelining the once-thriving American timber industry and taking the food out of the mouths of loggers’ children to allegedly protect the spotted owl, the green bureaucracy is still not happy and has declared war on the environment,” said David Almasi, executive director of the National Center for Public Policy Research and director of the National Center’s “Occupy Occupy D.C.” project. “One owl is being sacrificed for another. Where is the respect for the laws of nature? The one thing we do know from this travesty is that the Endangered Species Act is out-of-control and desperately needs to be reformed.”

After more than two decades of setting aside millions of acres of woodland and dramatically scaling back the forestry industry in Washington, Oregon and California, the amount of spotted owls – which are designated as endangered under the Endangered Species Act – has declined by approximately 40 percent. A new plan has been announced by the U.S. Department of the Interior in which the genetically-similar barred owl is designated as a threat to the spotted owl and will be targeted for termination. Hundreds of barred owls may be executed by shotgun under the federal directive.”

National Center staff will rally at Freedom Plaza over the noon hour with (simulated) owls and loggers to protest the new animal vs. animal wildlife policy.

“Obama has picked winners and losers when it comes to bailouts, handouts and where we can get our energy. Now he’s playing God by favoring one animal over another. What arrogance,” added the National Center’s Almasi. “Virtually shutting down the timber industry in the Pacific Northwest didn’t work, so now the plan is to shut down the barred owl. This is unreasonable, and the answer is to rethink our government’s unsustainable endangered species regulations.”

The National Center has obtained a five-week permit for Freedom Plaza in order to share the plaza with left-wing “Occupy D.C.” protesters. Since February 13, it has sponsored noontime events every weekday.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank with over 100,000 recent supporters. Contributions to it are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated.

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