"Former [U.S.] House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo [3] has joined a lobbying and public relations firm that backed his attempts to rework the Endangered Species Act [4] and open the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve [5] to oil drilling," reports Josh Richman. Pombo is joining Pac/West Communications [6] as a "senior partner," and will "split his time between Sacramento and other Pac/West offices." Pac/West headed the "Save Our Species Alliance [7]," which sought to weaken the Endangered Species Act. Last year, Pac/West won a $3 million contract from the Alaska state government, "to coordinate a campaign for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration," which Pombo has supported. At Pac/West, Pombo said he will be "working with grass-roots [8] groups ... looking at a lot of the issues that I worked with in Congress -- resource issues, agriculture issues," but won't be lobbying his former colleagues in Congress. Pombo declined to say what Pac/West was paying him, but joked, "I'm doing OK."