78-14-B7

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Environment

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.		Details Batch Number 78-14-B7 Production Date 10/10/1978 Book/Page RPtV-367 Audio Youtube? No
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