The New York Times' Felicity Barringer reports on the latest effort by the Republican Party to ease the laws protecting the nation's environment.

The chairman of the House committee overseeing natural resources introduced a bill Monday that would make it more difficult for the federal government to set aside land it deems crucial to the health of endangered species.

The proposed amendments to the Endangered Species Act also increase the obligation of government agencies to tell landowners quickly if the law limits their development options, and to compensate them.

The measure, which drew quick denunciations from groups like Environmental Defense, Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council, was proposed by the House Resources Committee chairman, Representative Richard W. Pombo, Republican of California. It was immediately put on a fast track, which is expected to bring it before the full House early next week.

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The Endangered Species Act has been a flashpoint for landowners, property-rights advocates and state and local governments, most in the West, who see its provisions as onerous and costly, and chafe at the ability of people not directly involved in a dispute to sue the federal government to ensure compliance with the law.

At the same time, the law is credited with preventing the extinction of hundreds of species of insects, plants and animals in the past quarter-century, though only a handful of the more than 1,200 listed species have recovered sufficiently to be removed from the list.

Pombo, who represents a district that President Bush carried with 54 percent of the vote, is one of the few California Congressmen on either side of the aisle being targeted in 2006. While this move might endear Pombo to the farming interests in his district, it will surely bring out new environmentalist money from around the state and nation to help out whomever the Democrats nominate as his challenger. California's eleventh congressional district could become home to one of the closest House races of the next cycle if Pombo isn't careful.