Editing 78-14-B7 (section)

=== Transcript ===
If you've ever heard of the Whydah bird--you're ahead of me. As
a matter of fact, I'll have to look at an atlas or encyclopedia to find
out where Digue Island is--the only place where the Whydah bird is found.
But apparently we are supposed to be upset because an ornithologist says
the Whydah bird may become extinct in 15 years.

Maybe CETA--the Comprehensive Employment & Training Act--could
help a little. In Wisconsin, CETA workers are being paid to record the
sounds of Quail calls. Why not the Whydah birds?

But in California we have an environmental problem which could pit
environmentalists against environmentalists. The Pacific Legal
Foundation, a non-profit organization consistently found on the side
of common sense and fairness, has filed suit against the Environmental
Protection Agency. It seeks an injunction to stop E.P.A. activities
which violate the Endangered Species Act. To make this action even
more unusual, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is also named in the
suit.

All this started with an E.P.A. order banning Los Angeles and
other nearby cities from waste disposal in the ocean. E.P.A. would
have them switch to a land disposal system at a cost of hundreds of
millions of dollars. Now, you must understand, we're not talking of
raw sewage or sludge but treated effluent which is piped out to sea.
Scientists have not found this to be polluting so much as it is
fertilizing. They say that the Santa Monica bay area is rich in
plankton because of the nutrients brought into the sea by this waste
disposal.

Plankton, it so happens, is an important food supply for the
Gray Whales and for anchovies. Brown Pelicans feed on anchovies. Now
the whales and the pelicans are both on the endangered species list.
The Pacific Legal action committee is asking whether the E.P.A. order
which would reduce the food supply of plankton would not subsequently
endanger the whales, the anchovies and the pelicans.

Curiously, the Fish & Wildlife people, who rushed to stop dams
that threatened the Snail Darter, the Furbish Lousewort and the Daddy
Longlegs Spider, aren't so anxious to buck the E.P.A. The Legal group
actually has a serious and worthwhile purpose. They are trying to
establish the absurdity of the present endangered species law which
gives priority to tiny fish, weeds and spiders regardless of the
merits of any proposed project.

Through confrontation they hope to achieve a balance between
environmental concerns and economic values important to the American
people. They advocate that no new species be put on the endangered
list until environmental impact statements have shown what the loss to
society would be in comparison to the loss of projects such as dams
and reservoirs. I told you they were on the side of common sense. 

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.
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