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ESA bill heads for vote in House
Published September 23, 2005
Combined local, wire reports
A U.S. House committee on Thursday approved a sweeping rewrite of the Endangered Species Act that hands major new rights to property owners while limiting the federal government's ability to protect plant and animal habitat.
Now the bill goes to the full House for vote next week.
"That's where the battle moves to," said U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, in a telephone interview Thursday with the Herald and News. Walden was in Klamath Falls earlier this week to announce the bill he helped co-sponsor.
The bill by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, a California Republican, bars the government from establishing ''critical habitat'' that would restrict development, and sets deadlines for property owners to get answers from the government about whether their development plans would hurt protected species.
If the government doesn't answer in time, the development could go forward. If the government blocks a development, the property owner would be compensated.
The bill ''will place a new emphasis on recovery and eliminates dysfunctional critical habitat provisions,'' Pombo said. ''It's about a new era in protecting species and protecting habitat at the same time we protect property owners.''
House Bill 3824, called the "Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005," passed on a 26-12 vote by the House Committee on Resources. The committee has 48 members, 38 of them of which voted on the bill. Eighteen Republicans and eight Democrats voted for the bill.
Walden, a Republican, said the bill has support from Republicans and Democrats and has a good chance to be passed by the House.
"If (it does), it will be a huge win for those who want to see changes to the ESA," Walden said.
Critics, mostly Democrats and some Republican, say the bill would disfigure the 32-year-old law that environmentalists credit with preserving species like the bald eagle and California sea otter.
''It is a drastic mistake to eliminate the provisions that have to do with the protection of habitat for endangered species,'' said Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J. ''It is my opinion that the Endangered Species Act is 99 percent about protecting critical habitat.''
Saxton offered an amendment to restore critical habitat protections to the bill, but it failed on a voice vote.
Conservatives and property-rights supporters like Pombo disagree bitterly with environmentalists and many Democrats about whether the Endangered Species Act has been a success. Pombo often notes that only about 15 of 1,830 threatened and endangered species have been taken off the list because they've recovered. Supporters of the law counter that an even tinier number - nine- have gone extinct.
The bill now goes to the full House, where Pombo says he has a commitment from Republican leaders to schedule a floor vote as early as next week. About a decade ago, Pombo failed to get the House to approve a rewrite of the Endangered Species Act, but he said he anticipates success this time.
On the Net:
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/
Combined local, wire reports
A U.S. House committee on Thursday approved a sweeping rewrite of the Endangered Species Act that hands major new rights to property owners while limiting the federal government's ability to protect plant and animal habitat.
Now the bill goes to the full House for vote next week.
"That's where the battle moves to," said U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, in a telephone interview Thursday with the Herald and News. Walden was in Klamath Falls earlier this week to announce the bill he helped co-sponsor.
The bill by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, a California Republican, bars the government from establishing ''critical habitat'' that would restrict development, and sets deadlines for property owners to get answers from the government about whether their development plans would hurt protected species.
If the government doesn't answer in time, the development could go forward. If the government blocks a development, the property owner would be compensated.
The bill ''will place a new emphasis on recovery and eliminates dysfunctional critical habitat provisions,'' Pombo said. ''It's about a new era in protecting species and protecting habitat at the same time we protect property owners.''
House Bill 3824, called the "Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005," passed on a 26-12 vote by the House Committee on Resources. The committee has 48 members, 38 of them of which voted on the bill. Eighteen Republicans and eight Democrats voted for the bill.
Walden, a Republican, said the bill has support from Republicans and Democrats and has a good chance to be passed by the House.
"If (it does), it will be a huge win for those who want to see changes to the ESA," Walden said.
Critics, mostly Democrats and some Republican, say the bill would disfigure the 32-year-old law that environmentalists credit with preserving species like the bald eagle and California sea otter.
''It is a drastic mistake to eliminate the provisions that have to do with the protection of habitat for endangered species,'' said Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J. ''It is my opinion that the Endangered Species Act is 99 percent about protecting critical habitat.''
Saxton offered an amendment to restore critical habitat protections to the bill, but it failed on a voice vote.
Conservatives and property-rights supporters like Pombo disagree bitterly with environmentalists and many Democrats about whether the Endangered Species Act has been a success. Pombo often notes that only about 15 of 1,830 threatened and endangered species have been taken off the list because they've recovered. Supporters of the law counter that an even tinier number - nine- have gone extinct.
The bill now goes to the full House, where Pombo says he has a commitment from Republican leaders to schedule a floor vote as early as next week. About a decade ago, Pombo failed to get the House to approve a rewrite of the Endangered Species Act, but he said he anticipates success this time.
On the Net:
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/
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