HOW SERIOUS ARE THREATS TO ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT?
Is the Endangered Species Act, the federal law that is supposed to save the spotted owl and may be called upon to save the wild salmon, itself an endangered congressional species? I know, this is a poor way to begin an essay. We’re supposed to answer, not ask, questions. Regard this as a special case where motives may be mixed and are certainly murky. Some things, however, are clear. Our beleaguered timber industry, which has overcut our forests and then exported some of the logs unprocessed, would dearly love to have the law changed so that it cared less for the spotted owl than for increased timber harvests. They aren’t bashful about saying so, although the idea is usually expressed as “saving jobs” – not enhancing profits. They have a brilliant and formidable advocate in the Senate, Slade Gorton, R-Wash., who has earned the wrath of environmentalists by suggesting that the law should be changed and alienated some of his colleagues by saying that it can be changed. They may have a s
