Congressman Aderholt Votes to Protect Endangered Species and Property Owners
CONGRESSMAN ADERHOLT VOTES TO PROTECT ENDANGERED SPECIES AND PROPERTY OWNERS
"This bill will help preserve endangered species and protect the rights of property owners at the same time," said Congressman Aderholt.
WASHINGTON, DC -- Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) today announced the House passage of the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act (TESRA), H.R. 3824. This legislation will update the well-intentioned Endangered Species Act of 1973, under which less than 1 percent of species listed have recovered. TESRA will improve this success rate dramatically by offering incentives to private landowners to help in species recovery; creating recovery teams assigned to each species; strengthening scientific standards; and replacing the critical habitat program with programs that increase the role of local governments and private landowners. Though not in the original version of the legislation, Congressman Aderholt led the effort to include language requiring economic and national security analyses be performed and considered by the Secretary of the Interior when deciding if a species will be listed as endangered.
"It is in our best interest to protect these endangered species and the private landowners who have them living on their land," said Congressman Aderholt. "The Endangered Species Act was just not getting the job done so an update was necessary. We worked hard to ensure that economic and national security analyses would still be utilized in the process of listing species as endangered. These are extremely important considerations."
The former legislation created an adversarial relationship between landowners and the government and provided no incentive for landowners to conserve species on their property. TESRA 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.
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/al04_aderholt/PR050930.html