Henry Brown: “in the 32 years that the Endangered Species Act has been in effect, we have learned a lot of lessons over time and seen…”

“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.…”