Inhofe may look to other vehicles to move ESA rewrite

Allison A. Freeman, E&E Daily reporter

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said yesterday he may turn to other vehicles to move Endangered Species Act legislation on the Senate floor in light of an apparent deadlock in negotiations and little hope of moving a bill through committee.

"We're watching everything as it comes along to see the best way to do it," Inhofe told reporters yesterday.

Inhofe had been deferring to Fisheries, Wildlife and Water Subcommittee Chairman Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) and ranking member Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to lead the process, but earlier this month he said their negotiations were making little headway and that he would look at other alternatives for moving legislation forward.

Inhofe admitted yesterday that moving his own bill through committee is not a likely option, saying he probably lacks the votes to move a bill. He blamed the deadlock on Chafee.

"My strategy doesn't seem all that important right now," Inhofe said. "I am committed to get a bill on the floor, and I am not too particular, but every time I talk to Senator Chafee, it doesn't matter what it is, he will not support it."

Chafee, a key swing vote on the EPW Committee, has said he would not support an Inhofe bill and would only get behind legislation if Democrats were also on board. If Democrats and Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) joined Chafee in voting against a bill, a 9-9 tie would result, mirroring the same result that sank "Clear Skies" legislation earlier in the session.

"I can't do it with the votes," Inhofe said of the committee process.

Still, he said ESA legislation is "important enough" to look at the full range of options for bringing changes to the act to the floor, possibly as an amendment on other legislation.

Chafee and Clinton had formed a working group with Inhofe and Jeffords in an effort to find compromise ESA legislation. Chafee said earlier this month that negotiations were "stuck" on about five issues, including funding, critical habitat and the jeopardy standard, and that legislation this year was improbable.

Lincoln unsure on future for ESA tax incentives

In a related matter, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) said she is not sure if the proposal that she and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) put forward last December will see any time in the Finance Committee. "I hope so, but we have a lot of issues on our plate," Lincoln said of advancing the ESA bill.

Lincoln and Crapo introduced S. 2110 last December. The measure would give landowners tax breaks as incentives for helping to recover endangered and threatened species and includes "conservation banking," a market-based initiative that would allow landowners to benefit from the sale of conservation credits.