June 1998 Vol. 219 No. 6  Editorial

Thomas R. Wright, Jr.,  Editorial Director

Beware the eagles . . . and politicians

It's taken 25 years, but the U.S. Interior Department says it wants to remove a few species from its list of those currently deemed "endangered." And if this occurs, it will be first since the Endangered Species Act was enacted in 1973, except for some species that have become extinct.

Now this is quite a reversal (or spectacular achievement, if you're an environmentalist), considering that the list contains some 1,125 species and has been growing by about 80 per year. However, when making the announcement, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt apparently wasn't satisfied with just describing the success. Instead, he used the occasion to jab congressional critics who had complained that, up until now, the act had been a one-way street. Babbitt said the announcement was designed to appease these critics.

Actually, from what we can tell, about two dozen species will be downlisted, not delisted. This means they will still be protected, but without as much intensity. Included are the American bald eagle, the peregrine falcon and eastern gray wolf.

Now comes a recent Wall Street Journal article that says the bald eagle has multiplied significantly and is already progressing from endangered to pesky. In the Northwest, for example, the eagles have started fights and threatened tame birds in a Seattle, Wash., zoo and have snatched a puppy playing with a child in Alaska.

You can bet it won't be long before we hear about some poor soul getting fined big money for protecting a small child. Here's the scene: Momma puts baby in one of those swings that hang in the backyard tree. Along comes a hungry eagle, swooping in, trying to snatch Junior for lunch. Momma grabs a shovel and pounds ole Baldy, sending him to his reward. Subsequently, the feds hear about it, arrest Momma, and hit her with a big fine. It's happened before — just ask the fellow who killed the grizzly bear that attacked him in front of his own home several years ago. Although he was fighting for his life, he was still charged with a crime because he put himself in harm's way by going out into his own yard in the first place.

Bald eagles are also startling some amateur nature lovers with their savage feeding patterns. In Seattle, WSJ says suburban dwellers have been shocked by the gore involved as eagles attacked flocks of domestic ducks and made off with the ducklings.

Despite the problems caused by these multiplying predators, the good news about their rise from being endangered is a building movement in Congress to reform regulations that hindered the use of private lands where such species were found. It's possible we will see the emergence of legislation revising the Endangered Species Act so as to provide more protection to private land owners.

The "powerful" chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Bill Archer of Texas, got a little lesson in how hardball politics and "special interests" really work recently when the direct subsidy on ethanol fuels was extended for another nine years. Besides the putrid stench of politics emanating from this fiasco, the shenanigan will cost the U.S. taxpayer an additional $5 billion. Archer, who had long (and rightly) condemned the subsidy as a waste (as did a recent Government Accounting Office report), planned to kill it when it came up for renewal. However, he was blind-sided by House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

After Archer let be known that he would kill the ethanol subsidy, the Newt stacked his own committee against him by adding two corn-state representatives, one of whom was from Iowa. As a result, Archer couldn't muster the votes needed in a House / Senate Conference Committee to eliminate the largesse.

Of course, there were reasons behind the Newt's actions on ethanol besides a concern for the pollution it is supposed to help prevent. Number one was most likely maintaining the contributions from big argi-business companies that market the corn squeezings. Next comes the farm vote, which is needed to carry the sparsely populated farm states of the Mid-west in a national election. Finally, the selection of the Iowa representative hints of the importance of influencing the Iowa caucuses, which are critical in selecting candidates from both parties for the next presidential election. Coincidentally, the current presidential front-runners include Gingrich, Trent Lott, Richard Gephardt and Al Gore, all ethanol supporters.

Now, we're not so naive as to think all politicians are righteous, but we must wonder how all of this fits in with the "Contract With America" that these folks signed and which was supposed to do away with such special interest nonsense. How can conservative politicians like the Newt advocate free market concepts out of one side the mouth while promoting subsidies from the other? Coincidentally, the senior senator from Texas has a unique way of answering that. Phil Gramm simply said he voted for the subsidy because he "couldn't vote to increase taxes on the farmers." Unbelievable.

Copyright © 1999 World Oil
Copyright © 1999 Gulf Publishing Company