To the Editor:
The Endangered Species Act (ESA), a battered cannon in the legislative arsenal of environmental protection, is being significantly challenged for the first time in its 22 year history. While use of the act makes headlines for protecting unknown organisms whose protection clashes with economic interests, like the spotted owl or the blunt-nosed leopard lizard, the broad thrust of the act often goes unnoticed. The overall purpose, as originally stated by Congress is to "provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved." It is one of the only weapons the United States has against holding back the rate of extinction which is globally the highest since the dinosaurs disappeared.
The threat to the act arises from a Dartmouth graduate, Republican Senator Slade Gorton '49 of Washington State. His official biography describes him as a nationally-recognized "advocate for equity in the Endangered Species Act." But his recent actions illegitimize his biography's description of him. In April, he announced his bill to junk major sections of the Endangered Species Act. A Gorton staff memo, leaked to the press last month, revealed the dirty hands of timber, mining, agricultural and utility interests in crafting the bill. Basically, Gorton and industrial lobbyists aim to scrap the act's main purpose of preserving the ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend. Also, the bill would deny the government its power to fine or incarcerate those who destroy protected species' habitats.
After all the ESA has accomplished and protected, scrapping the major objective of the act and styling it as a reformation is ludicrous. In addition, handicapping the government's main method of enforcement removes all firepower from the act. While it may not be perfect and some private landowners and companies have admittedly suffered from its enforcement, the solution is not to jettison the act. It is the most important component of American environmental law and its existence is essential until a more perfect program can be enacted.
Americans should not allow the ESA to be subsumed by industrial interests intent on current profits at the expense of future generations who stand to benefit from the biological diversity protected by the act. As Mollie Beattie, current chief of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service points out, "The level of biodiversity is an indicator of ecological health. Endangered species are ecology's smoke alarms." Dismantling or "reforming" the act according to the Gorton Bill will lead to an all-out fire.
