Having listed the Cook Inlet beluga as endangered, the federal government now says roughly a third of the Inlet is critical habitat for the whales, including the waters around Anchorage. Any development funded or permitted by the feds in that habitat will require extra scrutiny to avoid harm to the whales. U.S. Rep. Don Young made it sound like the feds just handed radical greenies the legal equivalent of a nuclear bomb so they can block any and all development.
He said it was "yet another attempt to halt resource production and development in Alaska, and a step towards making the whole state a national park for the enjoyment of Outsiders."
Other political leaders who spoke up expressed similar worry, though in more temperate language.
But the belugas' plight doesn't have to portend economic disaster.
Here's a modest proposal.
Instead of spending buckets of money to fight the feds in court, spend that money on research into how to help the belugas recover.
Nobody knows why the belugas haven't bounced back to healthy levels, despite a decade of respite from hunting. Without good information, it's hard to say whether any particular project is going to harm the whales' recovery.
That uncertainty is a legitimate concern.
To read the complete editorial, visit The Anchorage Daily News.