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| Opportunities & Exposures: Environment |
Environmental Equity
Richard W. Pombo
03/01/2006
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Opponents argue my bill removes the law’s regulatory hammer
that ensures property owners will "voluntarily" hand over lands needed for
habitat. Property owners forced to give up use of some of their property are
hardly doing something voluntarily. These regulatory takings have created the
unintended and adverse consequence of putting property owners and species at
odds. This often leads to the "shoot, shovel and shut up" syndrome that spurs
landowners to destroy habitat out of fear of regulatory takings.
Those wedded to the current failed endangered species program
disingenuously label compensating property owners as a cash cow for developers.
This is hardly the case. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that this
TESRA provision would cost less than $10 million over the next five years, a
rounding error in Washington terms.
Those who will ultimately benefit from TESRA’s compensation provision are
small landowners–family farmers and mom-and-pop ranchers. Species will benefit,
too. When we eliminate the threat of lost property value, we can actively
attract owners of valuable habitat to species recovery efforts. When that
happens, the endangered species list will stop serving as the hotel where
species check in, but never check out.
Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.) is chairman of the House
Resources Committee. |  |
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