Editorial: Light seen at the end of the tunnel

Thursday, May 7, 1998 | 10:46 a.m.

HOPEFULLY talk will be quelled by some big-business interest groups that would like to see the Endangered Species Act targeted for extinction.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt's announcement Wednesday that he's close to removing a record number of plants, animals and birds from the government's endangered list is well-reasoned. Because 29 species are recovering so well, Babbitt said they can be removed from the list.

One of the list's most distinguished members, the bald eagle, has undergone a remarkable transformation. In the early 1960s the bald eagle had dropped to 417 nesting pairs. It now has recovered to the point where there are now about 5,000 nesting pairs; it is a tribute to the Endangered Species Act's success.

In Nevada, a plant and two fish will be removed from the endangered list: the Three Ash Meadows plant, the Pahrump poolfish and the Ash Meadows Amargosa pupfish. At one time ranchers had sought to pump groundwater from Devil's Hole in Southern Nevada where the pupfish had lived, threatening it with extinction. But the late Roger D. Foley, then a U.S. District judge in Nevada, played a key role in the 1970s in preserving the species when his ruling protected the pupfish, a decision upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Endangered Species Act in recent years has come under increasing fire from a variety of special-interest groups, including logging, mining and developers. Babbitt's move to remove species from the endangered list demonstrates that the 25-year-old law is working. "For the first time we can get past the rhetoric and see the light at the end of the tunnel," Babbitt said.

There have been instances in the past where some endangered species designations have been deserving of criticism, but overall the Endangered Species Act has been important in preserving wildlife for all future generations to enjoy. Too frequently in recent years the debate over the environment has been polarized. Both environmentalists and business groups have sometimes staked out positions that are extreme and bear little resemblance to reality.

Babbitt has shown again his commitment to finding common ground solutions on environmental issues that once seemed intractable. Removing species that no longer deserve to be on the endangered list is a step in the right direction.