CONGRESSMAN COSTA STATEMENT ON NEW ENDANGERED SPECIES LEGISLATION

Washington DC- Congressman Jim Costa (CA-20) has issued the following statement onRepresentative Richard Pombo's introduction of the "Threatened and EndangeredSpecies Recovery Act of 2005."

"I appreciate the effortsthat Chairman Pombo and my colleagues in the Resources Committee areundertaking to draft legislation to reform the Endangered Species Act.

"While I was in theCalifornia Legislature, I led an effort to provide the first meaningful reformas it related to the incidental and accidental taking in agriculture.

"It is my hope that we canwork together in a bipartisan fashion to provide meaningful reform that is longoverdue at the federal level."