Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005

THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES RECOVERY ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - September 29, 2005)

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks.

Mr. Chairman, the Endangered Species Act is a well-intentioned law that has failed in its implementation. Originally billed as a way to recover and rehabilitate endangered species, it has failed at that goal.

As it has been pointed out, less than 1 percent of species listed have recovered in the entire history of the act. Almost 3 times that many still listed are believed to already be extinct. Many species that were listed in error, yet because of flaws in the act, they are still listed. This bill today will greatly improve the recovery process so that species may be restored and removed from the list.

Mr. Chairman, one of those species is the Alabama sturgeon. It was listed years ago even though it was never proven to be genetically distinct from any other sturgeon.

It's simply a regular sturgeon living in Alabama. The economic cost of its listing has been estimated at $1.5 billion.

Mr. Chairman, I and the rest of the Alabama delegation worked directly with the gentleman from California to ensure that the bill is helpful to landowners in Alabama and Southeast. The Endangered Species Act today creates an adversarial relationship between landowners and the government.

Landowners have little incentive to conserve species on their property. However, this bill will create cooperative conservation agreements between landowners and the government. It will also provide long overdue compensation to landowners whose property has been ``taken'' by the Endangered Species Act.

I encourage all of my colleagues to support this bill.

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