02/11/05 Crapo pushes for ESA reform, update

Can the Endangered Species Act can be improved and updated this year? Senator Mike Crapo and Rhode Island's Lincoln Chafee were joined by Oregon Representative Greg Walden and California's Richard Pombo at a news conference yesterday. Crapo says they want ideas on reforming ESA but they haven't enlisted support from other Senators just yet. CRAPO "I'm very confident that the full Senate leadership would welcome an opportunity to move a bill in the Senate if it had the bipartisan support that you know that it has to have in order to move in the Senate." Pombo says we've lost sight of the purpose of the act and he called the ESA's one- percent recovery rate over its 30-year life an 'abysmal record.' POMBO "This has been a source of conflict between the federal government and private property owners. It's been a source of conflict throughout much of the West." Walden says the Endangered Species Act has actually been detrimental to species recovery in many cases. WALDEN "I can't tell you how many private landowners I've spoken with who could be helping more on habitat if they didn't have the fear that if they did something they might harm themselves by being connected to the government." Chaffee says he's willing to bring back old reform legislation from then Senator Dirk Kempthorne that had a lot of bi-partisan support but never made it to the Senate floor for a vote. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott