Protecting whales from ghosts

It is hard to get animated about the fate of a slug. A beluga whale, however, is a “charismatic megafauna” and once you have had the opportunity to see a beluga pod you are understandably concerned by the proposition that they might become extinct. The Endangered Species Act was by most accounts meant to halt the preventable loss of creatures.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service will soon designate “critical habitat” for Cook Inlet beluga whales under the ESA. The listing takes into account: physical, biological, economic, national security and “other relevant impacts” and the Matanuska Susitna Borough has requested an extension on the comment period. No one expects an extended comment period to materially alter the outcome. A meaningful solution would be an adjustment in how the ESA is being applied.

As U. S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has recently learned in regard to the Clean Air Act, attempting to make reasonable adjustments in environmental laws is not easy. She deserves applause for her effort. Basic philosophies tend to polarize discussions:

“Let men learn for once that nature would have preserved them from science as a mother snatches a dangerous weapon from the hands of her child . . . civilization is not the ascent of man to a nobler state, but the fall of man from a rural simplicity that was a paradise of innocence and bliss.”

Such were the sentiments of the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau and more or less the more zealous elements of environmental activism. At the other end you have the response of the equally observant Francois Voltaire:

“I have received, Monsieur, your new book against the human race … You paint in very true colors of the horrors of human society … no one has ever employed so much intellect to persuade men to be beasts. In reading your work one is seized with a desire to walk on four paws …”

We live in a nation of relative abundance, at least for now, so we have the luxury of contemplating more than mere day-to-day survival. We can engage in discretionary spending and debate long-term planetary viability. Meanwhile most of humanity lives closer to the realities of Haiti and do not dwell on the fate of beluga whales. More than half of the planet dwells as close as you can get to Rousseau’s “paradise” of “rural simplicity.” They queue by the hour to get on the boat to places of science, civilization and life beyond subsistence.

The proper balance, and that is the key, is a place where development is permitted and care is allowed for reasonable accommodation for other creatures. The beluga issue seems fairly straight forward. Nancy Lord, in her excellent book “Beluga Days” offers the observations that in 1995 there may have been as many as 1,150 belugas in Cook Inlet. By 1998 the estimate was 350. As Lord and others note, it is not exactly clear if the whales migrate out of the Inlet as other beluga populations or if they, as more recently asserted, constitute a truly local and independent group. If there is, for whatever reason, a magical line in Cook Inlet which belugas do not cross and the group is alone then they appear to be on the same trajectory as the dodo.

The listing is a foregone conclusion. It is the absence of a solution that is more problematic. The cause of the decline is not known: over hunting, disease, pollution, military waste, sea traffic, noise, over fishing, warming water? The infinite possibilities ensure uncertainty and all but guarantee expensive and extraordinary measures in any activities near “critical habitat,” which are the river estuaries.

An example of potential impact of the beluga listing came up at the Jan. 19 borough assembly meeting. A representative of the Tyonek corporation gave a comprehensive presentation of development plans for the far side of Cook Inlet. Most of their land and projects are in the Kenai Borough but partly in our borough as well. Tyonek anticipates literally billions of dollars in resource development and infrastructure projects. There is a 21-mile gap (and the Susitna River) between their road system and ours. They are understandably optimistic and expect their population to swell from hundreds to thousands. They have every right to be excited. Their plans will be opposed. The beluga whale listing will become a tool to stop development. It is not hard to imagine the argument against a bridge across the Susitna because it is a critical habitat area. Ironically, Nancy Lord points out that the Tyonek tribe had in recent years resumed the hunting of belugas. In 1988 when the whales were estimated at only 350 there had been 88 known subsistence takings (Beluga Days, 54). The ESA listing does not conclude hunting is the cause of population decline.

Because no cause for fewer belugas is pinpointed a lot of time and money will be spent on battles: over the listing, the cause or causes of the decline and more significantly on trying to curtail or stop development in the Cook Inlet basin because we do not know why the beluga population is down. It is interesting. The whales are magnificent. However, is a species that is not endangered worldwide really at risk? If belugas are at risk does the designation of critical habitat really help the species if the cause of the population decline remains unknown? We are boxing with ghosts. We are limiting economic development in the process. Has the purpose of the ESA morphed from protecting a species to instead becoming a tool to stop development and civilization?

Alaska is beautiful. It was beautiful for eons before people came here. People did not move to Alaska because it is beautiful. They came to make a living. When the jobs are gone the people leave, eg: the end of the Gold Rush, the end of World War II, the end of the pipeline boom. This was a poor state before Prudhoe Bay. It is hard to simply watch whales and “walk on all fours” if you don’t have a job. It is possible to develop resources and appreciate nature at the same time. There should be no rush to close the curtain on the civilization and the development that allows us to have this discussion in warm homes. The ESA process needs to be revised.

Talis Colberg is mayor of the Mat-Su Borough.