[JURIST] The US House of Representatives Thursday approved by 229-193 legislation that would overhaul the 1973 Endangered Species Act [official website]. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) [official website] steered the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005 (TESRA) [PDF summary] through the House Resources Committee last week [JURIST report]. If enacted, the law will eliminate the designation of "critical habitat" for those areas inhabited by protected species; authorize the Interior Secretary [official website] to determine the standards for scientific data on which agencies would base their decisions; and require the federal government to compensate land owners if the Endangered Species Act prohibits development on their land. AP has more.