mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time . 
mr. speaker , i am in strong support of this rule . 
i also want to compliment the chairman of the committee on resources . 
he has been in congress for seven terms . 
he has worked very hard on the things that he believes in . 
he has been relentlessly patient to deal with a number of issues that have affected his district and those in the western areas of the united states , and he has presented to us today a bill that will reform , refine , and reauthorize the endangered species act . 
now , i do not agree with everything in the chairman 's bill or his approach , but i want to state here this morning that i respect his courage and his relentless patience to take years to bring something to the floor that he believes in . 
the substitute which i support , and i hope my colleagues in this body will support , is not a whole lot different than the base bill . 
we went through the base bill hour after hour after hour , members and staff ; and we changed a few words here and there that we feel will present the approach to protecting endangered species in the appropriate way . 
most people who are concerned about the endangered species act either are concerned because , like the chairman here from the committee on rules stated this morning , if you see a dam and it creates deep water and you can get your barges down with your grain , you appreciate the fact that the dam is there . 
so you have some concern about that . 
or if you are downstream and you want more coho salmon and you believe the dam is degrading the habitat for coho salmon or other species of salmon , you are less likely to appreciate the dam ; but both sides look at the endangered species act as either reducing their economic viability or reducing species viability . 
i think we need to do a number of things that we have done in the substitute . 
we have taken the words out of the base bill . 
we create a scientifically acceptable procedure , look on page 2 of the substitute , methods , practices and procedures that are acceptable science . 
we have made a requirement for making a determination for what species are listed . 
look at page 4 of the substitute , five specific criteria before you can list that species . 
we are reviewing all species every 5 years to see if the change of status is there , page 5. we repeal the critical habitat requirement in the base bill and replace it with a slightly different recovery plan . 
the recovery plan has a number of significant and important elements : a time frame for that recovery plan ; objective measurable criteria ; a description of where the site should be , and the emphasis is on federal land and not private land ; and an estimate of the cost and time it will take to recover that species . 
look on page 20 . 
there are a number of changes that we have made here to the gentleman from california ( mr. pombo ) xz4003220 which i think improves on the bill . 
support the substitute . 
