Gingrich: Don’t Save Every Animal Says Endangered Species Act Should Take Broader Approach

A revamping of the Endangered Species Act must protect biological diversity, but not necessarily every individual plant or animal from extinction, House Speaker Newt Gingrich says.

Gingrich told a House hearing Thursday that he is committed to passage of legislation to refashion the 1973 law, which has been a lightning rod for criticism by conservatives and property rights advocates.

The current species-protection effort has been marked by government micromanagement, bureaucratic meddling and sometimes “bad science” that has harmed large- and small-property owners alike, the Georgia Republican said.

While saying that the government must protect biodiversity, Gingrich suggested the revised law be focused away from making decisions on a species-by-species basis. Instead, he said, the focus should be on addressing overall biological diversity and that individual plants and animals should not necessarily be protected.

Gingrich’s comments came at a hearing of a special House task force examining how the law should be revamped. He said he wanted to suggest “a general framework” for reworking the law.

A rewrite of the Endangered Species Act has been a top congressional priority of conservative Republicans as well as many Democrats from Western states. They argue the law often has been administered irrationally, giving greater weight to protecting plants and animals than people.

Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., the task force chairman, said the law should safeguard property rights. “Our job is to ensure that science is not used as an excuse or a basis for trampling on the … rights of individuals,” he declared.

Pombo acknowledged that rewriting the law “will be one of the most controversial issues we will take up in this Congress.”

During the hearing, administration officials acknowledged that some parts of the law needed to be improved to provide greater flexibility and relief for small-property owners. Many of these abuses already are being addressed to make the law “more consumer friendly,” they said.

“We think the act is working, that it has been successful,” said Assistant Interior Secretary George Frampton. He said only a small fraction of the actions taken to protect species end up in controversy or directly pit humans and their economic livelihood against the fate of species.

The hearing came a day after a panel of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that the law had sound scientific footing and was correct in emphasizing protection of habitats to save rare plants, fish and animals.

The law, which lists 855 species as protected, “is our only hope of preserving a rich biological heritage,” Rolland Schmitten, director of the National Marine Fisheries Service, told the task force.

Frampton said the Interior Department plans next week to unveil a program under which residential homeowners would be exempted from the law if they want to develop five acres or less. The program is similar to exemptions announced previously - some involving as much as 80 acres - in Northwestern forests.

The department also is considering nearly 200 cooperative habitat conservation plans for larger landowners such as timber companies, Frampton said.