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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT:<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>Report a boost for Pombo's ESA goals</span></font></b><b><font
size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:
bold'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><b><font size=4
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:
bold'>Stockton</span></font></b></st1:City></st1:place><b><font size=4
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>
Record – 2/23/06<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>By Hank Shaw, Capitol Bureau Chief</span></font></b><font
size=4><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=4
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>SACRAMENTO</span></font></st1:City></st1:place><font
size=4><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> - Two critical concepts in Tracy Rep.
Richard Pombo's proposed overhaul of the federal Endangered Species Act should
guide the U.S. Senate's attempts to reform the 23-year-old law, according to
the initial findings of a group senators commissioned to help them prepare
their legislation.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><br>
But the group failed to find a path through the debate's thorniest thicket: How
to reform the ESA's "critical habitat" provision, an often unwieldy
tool intended to give threatened critters a place to live and multiply.<br>
<br>
Overhauling the ESA is no small matter for <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType>, the Delta and the Mother Lode,
where about a dozen endangered plants and animals live, including the <st1:place
w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:place> kit fox, the Delta smelt, the red-legged frog
and the riparian brush rabbit.<br>
<br>
Congress is closer to wholesale reform of the Endangered Species Act than it
has been in years, and Pombo has been the driving force from the House of
Representatives.<br>
<br>
He wrestled a bill through the House last year with the help of Rep. Dennis
Cardoza, a Merced County Democrat whose district includes <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Stockton</st1:City></st1:place>. The legislation now awaits action
in the Senate.<br>
<br>
Debate stalled, however, because many senators wanted to hear what an eclectic
group of environmentalists, industry officials, legal experts and scholars
called the Keystone Group had to say about reform.<br>
<br>
Late last week the group sent a letter to six key senators endorsing Pombo's
emphasis on providing incentives for the owners of private land - where 80
percent of endangered species live - to stop shooting, spraying, shoveling over
and shutting up about the critters on their property.<br>
<br>
Among its recommendations, the Keystone Group favors an increase in programs
such as the Conservation Reserve Program, which is widely used in other Western
states to expand habitat for game animals such as sharptail grouse and mule
deer.<br>
<br>
Other possible incentives could come as tax breaks for landowners who actively
improve their land to support endangered plants or animals. Sens. Mike Crapo,
R-Idaho, and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., already have sponsored such legislation.<br>
<br>
The group did not discuss Pombo's proposal, which would reimburse landowners
for the lost value of property tied up through Endangered Species Act
provisions.<br>
<br>
Critics such as the Defenders of Wildlife say doing this would spark a
taxpayer-funded giveaway. Pombo counters with a Congressional Budget Office
estimate that the incentive will cost taxpayers only about $10 million a year.<br>
<br>
"It cuts both ways, to be honest with you," Pombo said of the report.
"I'd half-hoped they'd come out with specific language (for legislation),
but I think they found out what I did over 13 years: This isn't easy."<br>
<br>
The Keystone Group letter also backed Pombo's desire to switch "critical
habitat," which can be haphazardly drawn by overworked federal agents, to
a more thoughtful "recovery plan" designed to do what it takes to
lift a species from the brink of extinction.<br>
<br>
But how to do that - environmentalists and property-rights advocates are deeply
divided - could scotch the whole reform effort in an election year.<br>
<br>
Additionally, Eastern politicians tend to be hesitant about tinkering with the
ESA, which is sacrosanct among even many Republicans there.<br>
<br>
Among them is Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee, chairman of the Environment and
Public Works Fisheries, Wildlife and Water Subcommittee and the senator who
commissioned the Keystone Group. Chafee faces a tough election road ahead.<br>
<br>
Chafee has been hoping to craft what he sees as a more moderate bill than
Pombo's, which Chafee says does not adequately designate recovery habitat and
lacks provisions to ensure compliance.<br>
<br>
Pombo says he wants moderates such as Chafee and California Sen. Dianne
Feinstein on board with whatever emerges from the Senate.<br>
<br>
"She has to be part of it," he said. "Now I'm sure she'll have
different ideas - I'm not saying my bill is perfect. If they find a better way
to do this, put it in the legislation."<br>
<br>
Pombo's bottom line is in line with the Keystone findings: Refocus the ESA to
recovery of a species, increase its funding to do that and give them an
incentive to help save threatened plants and animals.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>But he'll need a filibuster-proof 60 senators with him. Pombo fully
expects someone to block any reform effort unless it has such broad support.
And he says he's willing to compromise to get there.<br>
<br>
"It's not going to be everything I want. I know that," Pombo said.
"What we have to do is put together the coalition that gets us to
60."<br>
<br>
The Senate is expected to begin debate on the legislation next month.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Advisor, California Trout, Inc</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 ph</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 9562 fx</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.fotr.org">http://www.fotr.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><u><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>http:www.caltrout.org</span></font></u><font
color=lime><span style='color:lime'> </span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
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12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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