Thank
you for posting that opinion piece by Bruce Babbitt. My view of
him
were
pretty low to begin with.....I cannot believe that he would have the guts
to
accuse
the Bush Administration of driving the Snake River salmon to
extinction.
In
August of 2000, President Clinton to issued an executive order directing
the
BPA,
USFWS, and NMF to suspend the Endangered Species Act with regard to
the
recovery of the Salmon in the Columbia River System. In government speak,
he
told
the agencies "to operate the dams outside the parameters established by the
Biological
Opinion for the recovery of the Pacific Salmon".
Yes, that included the Snake River Dams.
As far
as I know this is the first and only time an administration suspended
the ESA.
He
didn't even have the courage to ask the urban areas to conserve power! The
electrical power
was
just shipped to California and Seattle with NO requests for conservation.
When it came between
chosing salmon or shipping electricity to the urban
centers there was no question where Bruce Babbit
stood.
Just
so there was no mistake that the urban areas came before Salmon...in
November of 2000 his Interior
Department issued a draft proposal in the Federal
Register for the recovery of steelhead and salmon stocks in
Western Washington and Northwest Oregon. The
draft proposal said that paving several hundred thousand
acres
of
land WOULD help recover the fish. Did Babbitt really believe that??
But he wasn't about to stop development
in
Seattle or Portland.
The
problem is that the preservationist movement is part and parcel of the
Democratic party.....and they
give
people like Clinton and Babbitt a free pass on environmental issues.
Clinton and Babbitt made some
horrible environmental decisions besides the ones
mentioned above and preservationists stayed silent
for
political reasons.
Vladimir
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Leland Miyawaki
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2005 7:35 PM
To: Waflyfishers; Dick Dahlgren; John
Subject: Salmon and DamsThis was in the opinion section of the Seattle TimesAn administration roadmap to salmon extinctionBy Bruce Babbitt
