To the editors:
The Endangered Species Act has proven itself a dismal failure. Of the 1,227 domestic and international species that have been listed under the ESA, only 17 have been “rescued” from the list. Of these, 7 were delisted due to extinction, 4 were removed because of “original data error” and 3 others recovered naturally, independent of the act.
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There is another issue to be addressed here. While the framers of the Constitution neglected to address the importance of protecting giant flies and special rats, they did specifically address the issue of private property. The Fifth Amendment says the federal government cannot seize property without paying just compensation. Yet under the ESA that is exactly what has been happening.
Contrary to popular myth development and preservation are not incompatible. Since the development of Prudhoe Bay in pristine Alaska, the caribou herd has more than quadrupled. The snow geese population has gone from 50 nesting pairs to 302. The Alaska Fish and Game Department reports record numbers of grizzly bears now using the Prudhoe field area for habitat and mating. And despite claims that the Valdez oil spill “forever destroyed” the fisheries in Prince William Sound, the area in 1990 and 1991 registered the biggest salmon catches in history.
