Senator Unveils Species Plan Kempthorne Rewrites Law To Reduce Protection For Endangered Animals

Fashioning himself as a mediator in a sharp disagreement over how to rewrite the nation’s endangered species law, Idaho Sen. Dirk Kempthorne has introduced his own plan to grant states and landowners more power.

Kempthorne unveiled his bill Thursday, flanked by a handful of other Western Republicans, after months of revisions and negotiations.

The final result, he said, is a plan that “saves species” but does so “in harmony with people.”

Kempthorne’s weighty 184-page bill is similar to a highly criticized version moving through the House. But the senator sought to distinguish his as a compromise.

Hearings on the bill haven’t been scheduled. Congressional aides said it’s unlikely any endangered species legislation will be passed by Congress this year.

Environmentalists have denounced previous drafts of both bills as repealing the 22-year-old law intended to guard endangered plants and animals.

Kempthorne’s bill would alter current law by giving property owners tax breaks for cooperating with endangered species plans and financial compensation when their land is made unusable by strict environmental rules.

It also would change the method for listing endangered species by allowing more local input, providing lesser protection for some species and giving more weight to “science instead of politics,” the senator said.

The result, staffers acknowledged, is that some species, or subgroups of species, no longer might be deemed “endangered.” Others simply might be allowed to die.

“Let’s face it: Not all species are going to make it,” said Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., who signed onto Kempthorne’s bill along with Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and seven others.

Only species likely to become extinct within 40 years could be classified as “endangered.” Those likely to become endangered in 100 years would qualify as “threatened,” a lesser distinction.

One key determinant would be genetics.

For example, the Red Lake salmon in Idaho likely would be called endangered because its genetics is distinct from more populous salmon in Alaska, Kempthorne staffers said.

But chinook salmon, if its genetics link it to a larger group, might not be protected.

Had it been enacted, Kempthorne’s bill also might have barred the recent reintroduction of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park, staffers said, because the wolves are migrating south on their own.

, DataTimes