“TESRA” Endangered Species Act Reform Update

Regular visitors to this blog, let alone our website, are unlikely to have missed our criticism (for example, here and here) of the policy implications within the draft of House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo’s “Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act,” TESRA for short, that has been circulating these last few months.

The TESRA legislation is a proposed reform of the Endangered Species Act.

Earlier today, Rep. Pombo (R-CA), Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), Greg Walden (R-OR) and George Radanovich (R-CA) introduced the legislation (go here for the Resources Committee press release annuncing this, which includes links to the legislation as introduced).

National Center staff members have been briefed on the contents of this new version of TESRA and are encouraged by some of the changes that have been made. A comprehensive analysis is needed before The National Center releases a more specific review, however, a few promising developments are worth noting:

  • TESRA no longer includes “invasive species” regulations;
  • TESRA now appears to have good potential to provide solid private property rights protections.

The National Center is in the process of conducting a thorough analysis of this new draft and will issue a more in-depth statement very soon.

In the meantime, this blog at least would like to commend the more than eighty public policy organizations (see here and herefor copies of coalition letters raising concerns that were sent to Rep. Pombo in June and September), and individuals too numerous to name, who joined together to publicly address policy concerns raised by the first draft.

Some who opposed criticism of the earlier draft of TESRA claimed constructive criticism was pointless; that Congress never listens to citizen concerns. Apparently, their pessimism was unwarranted.



The National Center for Public Policy Research is a communications and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems. We believe that the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility provide the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century.