WASHINGTON - Landowners would get major new rights and the federal government would have a smaller role in protecting plant and animal habitat under a House-passed overhaul of the 1973 Endangered Species Act. But Senate approval is far from assured.

The bill would require payments to property owners if species protection measures foil their development plans, put political appointees in charge of making some scientific determinations and stop the government from designating "critical habitat" for species where development is limited.

The Endangered Species Act, signed into law by President Nixon in 1973, requires the government to ensure its actions don't jeopardize the survival of 1,268 U.S. species of plants and animals now considered "endangered" or "threatened" by extinction. Those actions can include setting aside habitat for dwindling species that need protected areas to survive and recover; currently, critical habitat has been designated for 466 U.S. species.

The law has helped 16 species — including alligators, deer, falcons and gray whales — recover enough to be removed from the government's watch list, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Fifteen were removed because the data used to justify government protections were later found faulty; nine were taken off because the species went extinct.

"The act has been a failure at recovering species," said House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., the bill's author. "We have to respond to that and step in and reauthorize the bill, put the focus on recovery and protect private property owners."

The legislation, denounced by environmentalists but welcomed by property rights advocates, passed the House on Thursday by a vote of 229-193. It would mark the most significant overhaul of the landmark law since its passage.

Susan Holmes, a senior legislative representative at Earthjustice environmental law firm, said the bill amounted to "the death warrant for treasured American wildlife" if the Senate fails to reject the bill.

Pombo's bill would:

_Eliminate critical habitat. Instead, "recovery plans" for species, including designation of habitat, would have to be developed within two years. The recovery plans would not have regulatory force and the habitat would not be protected from federal actions.

_Specify that landowners with development plans are due answers from the interior secretary within 180 days, with a 180-day extension possible, about whether the development would harm protected species. If the government fails to respond in time, the development could go forward. If the government blocks the development, the landowner would be paid the fair market value of the proposed development.

_Give the interior secretary the job of determining what constitutes appropriate scientific data for decision-making under the law.

Several senators are working to introduce other versions, but the subcommittee chairman with jurisdiction over the issue, GOP Sen. Lincoln Chafee (news, bio, voting record) of Rhode Island, said he has problems with Pombo's bill and is not certain whether he'll introduce his own. Chafee expressed concerns about removing critical habitat and compensating landowners when development plans are blocked.

In contrast to Pombo's contention that the law has failed, Chafee described it as "successful, from the animal and plant perspective, certainly. ... It's generated a great deal of controversy on the human side, and for that reason we'd like to see it improved."

Pombo's bill passed over strong opposition from most Democrats and some moderate Republicans who came close to passing an alternate bill that would have eliminated the payments to landowners and made a number of other changes. The alternate measure failed 216-206.

"What we couldn't accept was the new mandatory spending under this bill, which would open the federal purse to developers," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (news, bio, voting record), R-N.Y. "Reforming the law should not be a euphemism for gutting the law, and that's exactly what the bill would do."

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On the Net:

Endangered Species Act: http://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa.html