Builders Advocate ESA Reform at U.S. Interior Meeting
 Interior Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Craig Manson and members of his staff pledged to work with home builders and landowners to help find sensible, timely approaches to species protection during a meeting last week with leaders and members of NAHB’s Environmental Issues Committee.
The meeting gave builders the opportunity to advocate reforms to the Endangered Species Act, discuss the role of private landowners in conservation and reinforce an already positive working relationship with Manson and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the Service). NAHB is supporting federal legislation to reform the process for designating critical habitat (H.R. 1299) and is urging lawmakers to include it in any broader Endangered Species Act legislation that moves through the House and Senate. Manson said that the Service has not taken a public position on the legislation. Environmental Issues Committee Chairman Ernie Platt and other NAHB members then highlighted bill provisions that are particularly important, such as: - Conducting a rigorous economic analysis and excluding areas from critical habitat designation where costs outweigh the benefits to the species
- Excluding from critical habitat designation areas that are already covered in existing Habitat Conservation Plans
- Clarifying what “occupied” versus “unoccupied” habitat means
 Manson repeated that the Service has not taken a position on H.R. 1299. However, he said that under his leadership the Service has used, on a case-by-case basis, administrative means to achieve many of those objectives.
Platt thanked Manson and his staff for their support of Habitat Conservation Plans, which have preserved habitat for more than 500 individual species on more than 33 million acres of private land. NAHB has strongly supported these plans for more than a decade. But Platt said that Habitat Conservation Plans can be problematic because getting approval for a plan to minimize and mitigate the effects of development on endangered species is costly and time-consuming. Manson agreed and said that timeliness is key. “It’s got to work for small builders or it’s not going to be useful in many parts of the country.” The meeting moved to broader matters after Neil Haselwander, vice chairman of the committee, expressed gratitude to the Service for its willingness to work with NAHB on species conservation, especially in evaluating its costs to landowners. Manson said that actions taken by the Service ought to be supporting President Bush’s efforts to create an ownership society. “If we’re adding cost to the monthly payment of a home [through regulatory activities], then we’re not helping the President meet his objectives.” | 
