A little less than a week ago, the entire Georgia congressional delegation introduced a bill intended to relieve pressures on Georgia water supplies associated with a severe drought.
Georgia's entire congressional delegation introduced legislation Tuesday intended to relieve drought conditions in the Atlanta area....
The legislation the Georgia lawmakers introduced would amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 so that federal protection for such species would be lifted in times of severe drought. (source)
It may not be surprising to learn that C. Ronald Carroll, co-author of an excellent textbook on conservation biology, writes:
We have endangered species because we have a legacy of being poor stewards of the environment. We have allowed ourselves to be dominated by a "tyranny of small decisions" that, when added up, create crises and panic responses....
We know what we should do. Fundamentally, we need to accept an ethic of conservation, not develop beyond what our natural resources can support, and respect the rights of the "downstream" communities. Our policies, law and our elected officials need to reflect these realities.
...
Our endangered species are sentinels, like the mine canaries, warning us of growing environmental degradation. Blaming the endangered fish and mussels for our water woes is as silly and misdirected as blaming the sick canary for shutting down the mine.
(source)
Carroll is a committed conservationist, after all. You expect him to write things like that. But who do you suppose wrote this:
Yes, we can continue to grow. But since our water resources are finite, we can do so only if we "buy" the right to grow by reducing the amount of water that each Atlantan uses. That means changing landscaping practices and retrofitting water-wasting plumbing fixtures, It means taxing ourselves to address expensive infrastructure problems, from fixing leaking pipes to replacing outmoded septic tanks with sewer systems that return water for downstream use. It means saying no to new developments that depend on septic tanks.1 (source)
(Hint: It's not somebody who works for the Sierra Club or Greenpeace.) The people in metropolitan Atlanta are in dire straits. I've read that Lake Lanier, which supplies Atlanta with its water, has only a 90-120 day supply of water left. But amending the Endangered Species Act “to provide for the suspension of each provision of the Act during periods of drought” isn't likely to help the people of Atlanta get through this drought at all.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. By the time they have considered the bill, adopted it, sent it to the floor to the vote; by the time the relevant House committees and the full House have adopted it; by the time differences between the House and Senate versions have been reconciled in conference; and by the time the president has signed it either Atlanta will be out of water, the drought will be over, or it will be clear that a more permanent conservation solution is needed.
In any case, adopting the legislation introduced by Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) won't help at all. It will only weaken protections for endangered species and ensure that fewer of them are able to survive.
1Jay Bookman, deputy editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution
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