Date: Sat, 3 Sep 1994 12:41:14 -0700 (PDT) From: Alexander Volokh Subject: CEI LIST - ENVIRONMENTAL OVERPROTECTION To: Recipients of the CEI List Two letters to the editor by Ike C. Sugg, CEI fellow in wildlife and land use policy. ENVIRONMENTAL OVERPROTECTION appeared in *The Washington Post*, 8/9/94 Jessica Mathews's July 17 op-ed column on the Endangered Species Act might make readers think the act had nothing to do with a fire that laid waste to 25,000 acres and 29 homes in Riverside County, Calif., last October. That would be wrong. In 1988 the Stephen's kangaroo rat was listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Residents of Riverside County were prohibited from clearing firebreaks in the rat's habitat even to protect their homes from fire hazards. Riverside County resident Michael Rowe violated the law by disking (i.e., clearing) a firebreak. Ms. Mathews, citing a report of the General Accounting Office, said a change in wind direction was probably as important as disking in saving Mr. Rowe's home. However, Mr. Rowe says that "the wind was blowing right at me." Indeed, the fire hit the edge of the ground he cleared and burned along the firebreak, missing his home but torching others. He believes the disking saved his home. The GAO report does not dispute that disking is the preferred means of fire protection, and it acknowledges that the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) barred property owners from disking because of the Endangered Species Act. The service also threatened to sanction the county fire department if it recommended disking for fire control in rat habitat, as it had in previous years. Reluctantly, the department advised mowing as preferable to no fire control at all. As Ms. Mathews reports, the Riverside County fire reached a ferocious intensity, but the ESA played a role in that too. An 800-acre field adjacent to Mr. Rowe's property had lain fallow since the kangaroo rat was listed in 1988 because FWS barred the owners from farming the field, as well as from disking it to remove accumulated brush. If those acres had been plowed, they would have provided a firebreak several thousand feet wide. Instead, the field was fuel for the fire. The bottom line is that federal protection of the Stephen's kangaroo rat put homes and lives at risk. The FWS now says disking is okay in Riverside County. Too many days late and 29 houses short, the government is allowing precisely what it previously claimed would violate the ESA. Ms. Mathews is right to say that the Endangered Species Act has strong public support. But polls also show that most Americans believe that property owners should be compensated for losses imposed by the Act, and two-thirds believe that property rights are inadequately protected at present. The ESA, wetlands regulations and other federal laws deny landowners the reasonable use of their land without compensation. Strengthening the Act will not make is "less irritating," as Ms. Mathews claims, but will only fuel the flames for reform. GAO COVERED UP HOW ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT ENDANGERED HUMANS appeared in *The Washington Times*, 8/10/94 Pamela Eaton of the Wilderness Society claims that the Endangered Species Act (ESA) had absolutely nothing to do with the fire that destroyed 29 homes in Riverside County, Calif., last October ("Times exploits others' misfortune for political points," Letters, July 27): "none." Ms. Eaton's claim is false, partly because the General Accounting Office (GAO) report she cites is wrong, and partly because the Wilderness Society cares more about saving the ESA than it does about the truth. According to the GAO report, "The professional views and judgments of county fire department officials and other experts were that the loss of the homes during the fire was not related to the [ESA's] prohibition of disking [the loosening and turning over of vegetation to prevent the spread of fires] as a weed abatement method." "That is not an accurate statement," says Riverside County Fire Chief Mike Harris. "The prohibition on disking definitely contributed to the loss of home... they must have heard things differently than how we stated them." Similarly, the man who Ms. Eaton claims told the GAO that "his home was spared only because the wind shifted suddenly," maintains that, in fact, he never told GAO anything of the sort. The wind did *not* change direction before the fire hit his firebreak; he saved his home by disking, in violation of the ESA. "I do not see how the GAO's mistake could have been an honest one," he says. The GAO was asked to ferret out the truth; it instead produced a scandalous cover-up. Much hay has been made by environmental lobbyists of the GAO's report. That hay will burn, just like the "protected" habitat of the endangered species in Riverside County and elsewhere. The truth will come out eventually, but it may take another tragedy during this year's fire season before the environmental establishment accepts what happened last year because of the ESA. _______ __________ ___________ / | / | | | |__________ | | | | \ | | \ _______ |__________ ___________ COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE 1001 Connecticut Ave. NW #1250 Washington, DC 20036 202-331-1010, fax 202-331-0640 cei@digex.com Permission to copy granted as long as these lines are left intact. To subscribe to the cei list, send a message to volokh@netcom.com. "The Virtual Hand: CEI's free-market guide to the information superhighway" is available for $5. CEI's monthly newsletter, "CEI UpDate," is free to contributors of $25.