10:00 AM -- Defenders of Wildlife alerts us to legislation being introduced in Congress today by Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Cal). Among other things, according to the Defenders, it:

• Repeals critical habitat without providing adequate assurances that habitat necessary for recovery would be protected.
• ...Cuts wildlife experts out of the loop in determining whether agency actions would harm endangered plants and animals...
• Requires the federal government to pay landowners to not violate the law...
• Places endangered plants and animals at risk whenever the federal government fails to meet a 90-day deadline for telling developers whether their actions would take an endangered species. If the government misses the deadline, no matter what the reason, developers get a de facto exemption from the law...

Pombo, an enthusiastic advocate of oil-drilling in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, calls his bill "Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005."

— Larry, Endangered Monkey, Light Reading