A senior Interior Department official told a House Natural Resources panel Tuesday that the agency opposes a Republican-led bill that would force the Fish and Wildlife Service to withdraw a proposed rule meant to protect natural resources at wildlife refuges.
Steve Guertin, the service’s deputy director for program management and policy, also defended the intent of the service’s proposed rule against sharp criticism from Republicans at Tuesday’s Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee hearing, which featured a handful of other wildlife bills.
H.R. 8632, from Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.), would block FWS from implementing the “Biological Integrity, Diversity and Environmental Health” (BIDEH) rule, which Guertin said is needed to give refuge managers more flexibility in the face of a warming climate.
“The intent of our proposal was to provide a more consistent, transparent and science-based approach to upholding ecological integrity on individual refuges and across the refuge system,” Guertin said.
