[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 93 (Friday, June 27, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S6724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    REFORM OF THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT AND CONSERVATION EASEMENTS

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, on another matter, I wish to inform the 
Senate that we in the Environment and Public Works Committee are 
working very diligently to come up with a good solid reform of the 
Endangered Species Act.
  In this respect, I say that Senator Kempthorne, the chairman of the 
relevant subcommittee, is working very hard with Senator Reid, the 
ranking member of the relevant subcommittee, along with myself and 
Senator Chafee to reform the current Endangered Species Act, including 
many provisions, such as involving the States much more deeply than 
they are now, making sure there is peer review by scientific 
communities, and a host of other changes.
  But one change I would like to mention at the moment is an idea in 
the bill introduced by the Senator from Idaho which very simply states 
that conservation easements that protect habitat for endangered species 
should be tax deductible.
  I raised this issue in the Finance Committee markup a week ago 
explaining to members of the committee that this was a new idea, a good 
idea which would give landowners incentives so that they themselves can 
protect their own land in a way to avoid problems under the act. But I 
did not push for the amendment in committee because we were not quite 
ready for the provisions of the amendment and did not have an 
appropriate way to pay for it which is called for under the 
Reconciliation Act.
  Senator Kempthorne has introduced a statement today basically calling 
this matter to the attention of the full Senate, and most particularly 
to the attention of the conferees.
  I say to Senator Kempthorne and others that are interested that I 
will work diligently, in cooperation with the Senator from Idaho, to 
see if we can find a way to get that provision passed.
  Essentially, Mr. President, we will very soon have a bipartisan 
Endangered Species Act reauthorization reported out of the Environment 
and Public Works Committee. I think Senators will be happy in the main 
with the provisions of this agreement. I compliment, again, Senator 
Kempthorne, Senator Reid, and others who are working, on a very 
bipartisan basis, to reach this result.
  Again, I thank my colleagues for their interest in the tax incentive 
portion of it because I think that is an important, integral part of 
this solution.

                          ____________________