mr. chairman , in the 32 years that the endangered species act has been in effect , we have learned a lot of lessons over time and seen the areas where it needs some improvement . 
i believe that the gentleman from california ( chairman pombo ) and other members of the house committee on resources have worked very hard to come up with a piece of legislation that protects property owners ' rights and improves the way that we protect and rehabilitate endangered species , and i am proud to be an original cosponsor of this legislation . 
mr. chairman , one of the most important aspects of h.r. 3824 deals with private property owners ' participation in species recovery . 
i believe in america it is a fundamental right to be able to own property and to be able to enjoy that property . 
i visited a country back during the spring that no citizen in that country could own property or they could lease it for 25 years or 99 years ; and , mr. chairman , i do not believe america wants to return to that fundamental time where we could not own property , we could just live on property owned by somebody else . 
i believe taking property that allows somebody an option not to be able to use their property how they intended , property they used their hard-earned money to purchase is fundamentally wrong . 
specifically , h.r. 3824 will provide certainty for private property owners by allowing landowners to request a written determination as to whether their land use activities will violate the take prohibitions of section 9. it will also compensate private property owners for the fair market value for foregone use of their property where the secretary has determined that the use of that property would constitute a take under section 9. i believe we should protect our endangered species but not at the expense of our private landowners . 
mr. chairman , there is a better way to protect endangered species ; and i believe it is h.r. 3824 , the threatened and endangered species recovery act of 2005 . 
i encourage my colleagues to vote `` no '' on the miller substitute amendment and `` yes '' on the final passage of h.r. 3824 . 
