Don’t Gut Species Act, Smith Says Why Encourage Clinton Veto? Asks Conservative Lawmaker

The House task force on the Endangered Species Act shouldn’t waste its time with proposals to gut the wildlife law, because they are sure to draw President Clinton’s veto pen, Rep. Linda Smith says.

The freshman Washington Republican said she is trying to persuade fellow members of the panel to negotiate a modest rewriting of the act that could win Clinton’s support.

“Some in our group still to this day want to get rid of the Endangered Species Act. Gut it. Go in and repeal it,” Smith said in a recent interview.

“This is going to sound odd, but I’m probably the moderate in the group,” said the former state legislator with a reputation as an aggressive, staunch conservative. “That sounds like a weird title for me, doesn’t it?”

The task force missed its self-imposed deadline last month to present proposed changes in the act but expects to unveil a package of ideas soon.

Smith, who defeated Democratic Rep. Jolene Unsoeld in southwest Washington’s timber country, said much of the focus will be on easing wildlife-protection regulations for small landowners.

President Clinton announced rule changes on Wednesday largely exempting from the act owners of five acres or less. Smith said she hadn’t decided on an upper size limit for properties that should be exempted.

“I think of Weyerhaeuser and Simpson (Timber Co.) as being big and everybody else as being small,” she said.

Smith said she’s making the case that Clinton can’t risk the political cost of opposing reasonable changes in the act. She’s even more convinced he’d cut a deal now, since he has said he’d accept a measure exempting salvage logging from environmental laws after earlier criticizing the idea and vetoing a bill that included it.

“I think the president’s action on the salvage bill to me says he desperately wants to do something. I know he is desperate politically in the Northwest,” Smith said.

From a political standpoint, Clin ton might decide to side with environmentalists and reject any significant changes. And some Republicans might get more political mileage out of ranting and raving about the law, rather than promoting realistic reforms, Smith acknowledged.

“But to me, looking at (Clinton administration) recommendations, giving them the credit for the areas they are doing better is a better place to start than a repeal of the Endangered Species Act, which basically … puts Clinton in a corner,” she said.

“The only way he can come out is fighting. I don’t think that is a good place for any of us.”