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Senator Crapo readies new ESA bill |
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Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) plans to introduce legislation within the
next two weeks that would give tax incentives to landowners for helping
endangered species.
Crapo said Tuesday that the bill is "very close to being ready
to introduce." He is finalizing cosponsors and hopes to formally
announce the bill this week or when the Senate returns after the
Presidents' Day recess.
Crapo and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) have been working on
different variations of landowner incentives bills over the past year.
The most recent version they introduced last December would provide tax
credits for landowners who enhance habitat for endangered species and
allow tax deductions for landowners who help implement species recovery
plans.
That bill had the chairman and ranking member of the Finance
Committee as cosponsors and won the praise of groups that have often
been on opposite ends of the endangered species debate, the National
Wildlife Federation and the American Farm Bureau.
The new legislation would focus on tax incentives under the
Finance Committee and may be slightly different from previous versions,
Crapo said. He said it will have "broad bipartisan" support.
Crapo's bill would avoid changing the underlying law and keep
the issue within the Finance Committee and might be the best chance for
any work on Endangered Species Act issues this year on Capitol Hill.
The leaders of the House and Senate panels with authority over ESA have
said they have no interest in legislation to change the act this year.
A House GOP staffer who has worked on the issue said that a
boost to landowner incentives is the only area of ESA that can get
bipartisan support. But the staffer predicted any legislation would
need to move early, since the drive to deal with the "radioactive"
issue of ESA would likely die next fall during the political heat of
presidential campaigns.
More funding is key
House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks
(D-Wash.) said he wants to increase endangered species funding over the
administration's budget request.
"There is not enough money in the ESA accounts," Dicks said in an interview this week.
Dicks oversees the panel that will set the initial ESA funding
levels for the House next year. The chairman said he is hoping for a
boost in the allocation from the budget committee, so he can increase
the line items for ESA and other accounts.
"I hope we can get a decent allocation, so we can take care of some of these problems," Dicks said.
The budget request the Bush administration put forward last
week would allot $1.287 billion for the Fish and Wildlife Service,
several million dollars less than the $1.301 billion it received in
fiscal 2006.
FWS's budget request includes a proposed $5.5 million increase
for the endangered species line item over fiscal 2007, providing $146.5
million for candidate conservation, listing, consultation and recovery.
However, while additional funds are provided for work in the Green
River Basin as part of the Healthy Lands Initiative, general program
activities would be cut by $178,000.
"I am a big supporter of ESA as it currently exists," Dicks
said. "The problem is there hasn't been proper enforcement, because
there is not enough money to do listings or habitat planning."
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