Sens. Chafee, Clinton urge caution on Pombo's ESA bill

The leaders of a key Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee on the Endangered Species Act said they want to wait for a report from an independent commission before considering changes to the law.

Senate Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water Subcommittee Chairman Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) and ranking member Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) both said they would prefer to see the recommendations of the Keystone Center, a nonprofit group based in Colorado that Chafee asked to consider changes to ESA, before going ahead with ESA revisions.

At a subcommittee hearing yesterday, Clinton also criticized House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) for going ahead with ESA legislation at a hearing yesterday and markup today on his bill, H.R. 3824 (see related story).

"I regret this has jumped the gun," Clinton said. "The bill introduced by Chairman Pombo I think would abandon our national commitment to species recovery." Specifically, Clinton said Pombo's bill would create new bureaucracy, subvert the proper role of sound science and require payments to private landowners and developers that may not help species recovery or protection.

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