A New Entry For The Endangered Species List: Agreement

Finding common ground in the Endangered Species Act debate is almost as hard as finding some of the threatened creatures themselves.

“The Endangered Species Act is one of the most politicized issues we could deal with,” said Sen. Dirk Kempthorne, R-Idaho, who introduced a bill last October to reform the act.

Kempthorne said there has been “tremendous progress” toward new legislation this past year.

But his Northwest colleague, Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., said Kempthorne’s bill won’t be considered this year because it would be filibustered in the Senate and vetoed by President Clinton.

Gorton said his own reform bill, introduced last May for debate and discussion purposes, also hasn’t had a chance to move through the Senate.

A third bill, sponsored in the House by Reps. Don Young, R-Alaska, and Richard Pombo, R-Calif, has 126 co-sponsors and passed through committee last fall. But it has yet to reach the floor.

Voters in Washington’s 5th congressional district can’t make up their minds, either.

Four out of 10 voters who responded to a Spokesman-Review poll in February said it was important to change the act. Of those, about half wanted more protection for animals, and about half wanted more flexibility for businesses and communities to comply with the law.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service enforce the law, passed by Congress in 1973.

The act expired in 1992, but Congress kept the programs going through annual spending bills until April 1995. That’s when it stopped agencies from listing new species as endangered or threatened.

Republicans want any additional species to be listed under a new law and say the moratorium is an incentive to pass legislation quickly. The next few months could determine whether there is room for compromise in the contentious issue.

Stick or carrot?

Until last April, the Endangered Species Act required the Secretary of the Interior to list animals, fish or plants that are endangered or threatened, and to designate habitat areas “critical” for each species at the time of listing.

The secretary then developed a “recovery plan” aimed at removing the species from the list.

The act said the secretary shall cooperate with states in developing a recovery plan, and must consider the economic costs of recovery, although such costs aren’t necessarily an overriding factor.

Landowners face civil or criminal penalties if they harm listed species or their habitats. They can, however, get certain exemptions.

The Gorton, Kempthorne and Young-Pombo bills all start from the premise that current law punishes landowners to protect species. The bills would encourage landowners to protect plants and animals with economic incentives instead of threatening them with penalties.

Kempthorne’s bill would defer estate taxes for owners of land inhabited by listed species. The Young-Pombo bill would give money to landowners for habitat conservation.

All three bills would allow voluntary “cooperative management agreements” between landowners and the federal government to protect a certain species. Agreements would be binding even if new species were found on a landowner’s property and were listed.

Some environmental groups support such incentives. The National Wildlife Federation favors property tax credits for habitat enhancement and deferral of estate taxes. The Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, a 2,000-member group in Bellingham, is looking carefully at incentives, said conservation director Brian Vincent.

The Young-Pombo and Kempthorne bills also would require the federal government to compensate landowners whose property values fall by 20 percent or more because of regulations.

That proposal is more controversial.

Landowners should be compensated if regulations that protect species interfere with farming and reduce land values, said Gretchen Borck, of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers. “Everything has a price, and we just want a level playing field,” she said.

Most environmental groups oppose compensation.

“I don’t get paid not to speed in my car,” said Steve Torbit, a scientist with the National Wildlife Federation in Colorado. “It comes down to personal responsibility. When you act responsibly, there’s no need to be compensated.”

States’ rights

Republicans want to give states and residents more say in how species are protected.

The Young-Pombo bill would require the Interior secretary to discuss proposed listings with affected states. If a governor said the listing was not warranted, the secretary would have the burden of proving a governor wrong.

A governor also could appoint two peer reviewers to examine the listing decision.

Gorton’s bill would require at least two public hearings into recovery plans for listed species in each state where the plans would apply.

States already have input under the existing law, said Ken Burton, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman. He said the agency works with states during research into possible listings, and states have 60 to 90 days after a proposed listing to make comments.

The National Wildlife Federation favors community-based recovery planning, where states and localities tailor federal species plans to suit their needs. But Torbit, who developed the idea, said the federal government should be responsible for the law.

“Endangered species cross state boundaries,” he said.

Vincent, of the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, said he doubts “conservative” state legislatures in Washington and Idaho would commit to protecting endangered species.

Adding more species

Critics say the act isn’t working because more species join the list than leave it.

Of more than 900 species listed since 1973 as endangered or threatened, only 21 have been removed. Seven left because the Fish and Wildlife Service said they were extinct. Another eight were listed mistakenly because of errors in data collection. Only six of 21 species were removed because they recovered.

Supporters of the law say the number of species removed from the list isn’t a good measure of success.

“Just because we’ve not had 300 species leave the list doesn’t mean the act isn’t working,” Torbit said. “It took us 500 years of settlement to get into this situation, so it’s simpleminded to say we should have got out of it in 23 years.”

Current law mandates full recovery for each listed species. Recovery would remain an option under the three Republican proposals.

Kempthorne said the administration already gives some species more attention than others.

Burton agreed the Fish and Wildlife Service sets priorities because of money pressures. But Vincent said recovery “should be the goal in each case. … Why list a species if the goal is not to recover it and get it off the list?” As the debate continues, prospects of reform this year are unclear.

Torbit said budget battles and the November elections make it unlikely Congress will pass a new law. Vincent also doubts there will be changes.

Gorton said passing a modest reform bill would prevent the act becoming a campaign issue. He hopes Congress will pass a bill this year acceptable to President Clinton.

Kempthorne remains optimistic.

“We have to agree to keep (the act) out of presidential politics so it doesn’t become a litmus test on the environment,” he said. “We should leave it if the debate becomes too inflamed, but that hasn’t happened yet.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: AT RISK These plants and animals are listed as endangered or threatened in Idaho and Washington under the Endangered Species Act.

Endangered Woodland caribou (Washington and Idaho) American peregrine falcon (Washington and Idaho) Brown pelican (Washington) Columbian whitetailed deer (Washington) Green sea turtle (Washington) Leatherback sea turtle (Washington) Gray wolf (Washington and Idaho) Marsh sandwort (Washington) Banbury Springs limpet, a type of mollusk (Idaho) Snake River snail (Idaho) Utah snail (Idaho) Bruneau Hot springsnail (Idaho) Idaho springsnail (Idaho) White sturgeon (Idaho)

Threatened Grizzly bear (Washington and Idaho) Oregon silverspot butterfly (Washington) Bald eagle (Washington and Idaho) Aleutian Canada goose (Washington) Marbled murrelet (Washington) Northern spotted owl (Washington) Western snowy plover (Washington) Olive turtle (Washington) Bliss snail (Idaho) Nelson’s checker mallow (Washington) Water howellia (Washington and Idaho) MacFarlane’s four-o’clock, a type of plant (Idaho)