(WASHINGTON) - Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton today commended the House Resources Committee for passing bipartisan legislation to reform sections of the Endangered Species Act that have not worked well for the conservation of threatened and endangered species and to ensure actions taken under the Act are supported by the best available science.

"The Endangered Species Act is more than 30 years old and is long overdue for congressional review," Norton said. "I applaud Chairman Richard Pombo for breaking through the political logjam that has existed so long and producing a bill that is supported by Republicans and Democrats alike."

In particular, she noted that the bill would change the critical habitat provisions of the Act that have generated huge amounts of litigation and very little conservation benefit for threatened and endangered species.

"As both the Bush administration and previous administrations have testified before Congress, the conservation and restoration of habitat is vitally important to the recovery of species, but the critical habitat provisions of the Act have proven an expensive and ineffective way to achieve this goal. In fact, for all the millions of dollars and thousands of hours of staff time invested in mapping critical habitat areas, these provisions have not created even one acre of new habitat but have diverted scarce resources from other conservation efforts."

Norton also commended provisions of the bill that improve the recovery planning process and provide for the development of a clear definition of "best available scientific data."

"Well-documented science is the backbone of the Act, and we must ensure that the science we use to make decisions that affect both listed species and landowners is the best available science," she said. "The legislation codifies scientific standards in the Act such as peer review that are used by scientific organizations and publications around the world."