For the week of June 25 - July 1, 2003

Kempthorne calls for reform of ESA

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said this week the Endangered Species Act has failed and called for reforms that would alleviate private landowner burdens and better help to recover endangered species.

The road to reform may not be an easy one, he told the Idaho Water Users Association’s annual conference, held this year at the Sun Valley Resort.

"It’s going to be a difficult task, and the journey is going to be difficult, but the journey is worth taking," the governor said.

Kempthorne, who has been mentioned as a leading candidate to succeed Christie Whitman as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said the ESA, adopted in 1973, has been subjected to a 30-year trial, during which it has failed to achieve any substantive results and has taken flexibility away from private landowners and businesses.

Of the 34 species removed from the ESA, seven have gone extinct, 13 were listed by mistake, 11 recovered on their own in response to rules on take and three recovered due to a concerted recovery effort, Kempthorne said.

"Can we point to the successes of the ESA?" he asked. "It’s tough to say."

In Idaho, where 29 species are listed, Kempthorne said "science must be our guide" and voluntary conservation should be rewarded.

He said the Idaho Office of Species Conservation, created by the Idaho Legislature in 2000, helped Idaho get ahead of the curve.

"We’ve taken control of the wolf issue," he said. "And with the sage grouse, a species not yet listed, we’re working to get ahead of the curve."

On endangered and threatened Northwest salmon runs, one of the country’s most visible ESA issues, Kempthorne said an aggressive approach could help avoid use of flow augmentations or dam breaching in recovery efforts.

He trumpeted the efforts of the Northwest’s governors, who are forging ahead with programs that would help preclude breaching of the lower Snake dams as a viable option.

"It should never be an issue of people versus fish," he said. "I’ve never heard anyone say we should turn our back on a species."

"Thirty years is enough time," Kempthorne said.

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