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Senate Finance leaders back incentives bill |
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Landowners who protect endangered species or their habitat would net beneficial tax treatment under legislation unveiled yesterday by a bipartisan group of senators.
Cosponsors include the chairman and top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, which has sole jurisdiction over the bill.
The proposal appears primed to coast through the committee level and won the praise of groups often on opposite ends of the endangered species debate: the American Farm Bureau and Environmental Defense.
"There is a lot here that is extremely important, and for that reason, I think we will not have much difficulty passing it this Congress," said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) at a press conference yesterday introducing the bill.
Baucus said he is not sure on the timing for the bill, but he plans to incorporate it into one of several tax packages the committee will deal with this year.
Michael Bean of Environmental Defense called the bill a "breakthrough" for endangered species issues, which have been so divisive in the past. "This is the first time in a very long time that we have had such bipartisan support for any endangered species legislation," Bean said.
The bill avoids changing the underlying Endangered Species Act and would give tax credits to farmers, ranchers and other landowners who incur costs to recover endangered species. Participants would have to develop a management and recovery plan.
"It does what ESA does not, it creates incentives," said Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), one of the bill's authors.
The bill would also let landowners put conservation easements on their land. The easements would be separate from existing easement programs in the farm bill but function in the same way, Crapo said. The legislation is expected to cost $2.7 billion over 10 years.
On the House side, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) has agreed to bring the bill to the Ways and Means Committee. Thompson is a member of the committee.
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