Unfortunately, say environmentalists, Rep. Pombo's busy-ness has
all been aimed, once again, at undermining or actually
eviscerating long-established laws that protect America's
natural resources. As Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger
Schlickeisen put it last month in an interview with the Oakland
Tribune, Rep. Pombo is "the most anti-conservation congressman
of the 535 in Congress." [1]

And while Mr. Pombo's wide-ranging agenda achieved only partial
success this year (one key initiative fell apart in the face of
public outrage), he has made it clear that he will be right back
at it when Congress reconvenes in 2006.

That means, among other things, that the Endangered Species Act
(ESA), a bedrock of the entire structure of environmental
protection, is itself endangered once more --the result of 12
successive attacks on the law since Pombo was first elected 13
years ago. Indeed, this year Pombo finally achieved his
career-long goal of passing a revised ESA in the House. The vote
was 229-193.

Pombo's re-write would require the government (i.e. taxpayers)
to compensate property owners who claim their plans for
developing their property are being blocked by requirements of
the ESA. "What Pombo really wants to protect," said the San Jose
Mercury News, "is his excessive notion of property-owner
rights." Pombo's ESA, said the editorial, is "an open invitation
to dream up developments and get bought out of them at
exorbitant prices by taxpayers." [2]

The next round in the battle over the ESA will take place in the
Senate, where Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), has introduced a clone of
the Pombo bill (S. 2110). The Crapo version would waive
fundamental habitat protections, indefinitely delay listing of
endangered species, give industry interests control over the
recovery planning process, undermine ESA enforcement, and--as in
Pombo--compel taxpayers to pay landowners for alleged losses.

The ESA, however, has by no means been Pombo's only priority.
This year Pombo also proposed selling federal lands, including
lands in and around national parks--along with the underlying
mineral rights--to mining and timber companies. It would have
allowed anyone to stake a claim and purchase the land, even
without proving it contained minerals, and develop into anything
they wanted, from condos to ski chalets or a mall. A study by
the Environmental Working Group found that this could
potentially add up to 6 million acres of publicly owned land.

Outrage at the giveaway was so great that Pombo and his
colleague, Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.), withdrew the plan. But,
warned Gibbons, he will revisit the issue next year.

Not stopping there, Rep. Pombo has also proposed building a
six-lane, cars-only, 23-mile freeway in California's Central
Valley which would ignore a natural mountain pass and instead
run straight up Mount Diablo and down the other side--at a cost
of $10 billion. Despite a storm of regional opposition, Pombo
obtained a $7.6 million earmark in last August's transportation
bill to study his project.

Critics point out that the new freeway would be just miles from
a 205-acre ranch owned by Pombo and his family. Pombo lists the
value of his share of the ranch at between $250,001 and
$500,000. Land speculation near the proposed highway has
already begun.

It is these and other actions, to be reported in a future
article, that earned Rep. Pombo the designation of being chosen
by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington, as one of the 13 most corrupt members of Congress.
[3]

###

SOURCES:
[1] "Some Say Pombo is 'Out of Step With Americans'," Oakland
Tribune, Nov. 8, 2005.
[2] "Earth Needs Protection From Pombo," San Jose Mercury News,
Nov. 2, 2005.
[3] Beyond Delay, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington.