Suing the Belugas

In October, while Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska was campaigning to be vice president, the federal government added the beluga whales in the state’s Cook Inlet to the endangered species list. At the time, Governor Palin opposed the listing, saying it would be “premature.” (She said the same thing about protecting polar bears.) Now Ms. Palin has announced that she will sue to remove the whales from the protection of the Endangered Species Act.

In Governor Palin’s view, what is really endangered is Alaska’s economic growth. Cook Inlet, the long arm of water that reaches toward Anchorage from the Gulf of Alaska, is one of the busiest and fastest-developing regions in the state. There are plans for gas and oil development, an expansion of the Port of Anchorage, as well as a possible new bridge.

Ms. Palin argues that the state has already taken adequate measures to protect the belugas. The numbers certainly argue otherwise. The beluga population in Cook Inlet last year was estimated at 375, down from a high of 653 in 1994.

In explaining her intent to file suit, the governor has challenged virtually every aspect of the listing decision — including the scientific finding that these belugas are a separate and distinct genetic population seriously at risk. Former Senator Ted Stevens went so far as to call the listing “a deliberate targeting of an area vital to the Alaskan economy.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/opinion/29thu3.html?th&emc=th

Instead of siding with Big Oil and gas companies wanting to drill and put gas and oil lines there, she should use this promote Alaska's eco-tourism.