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Don't count Neil Abercrombie as one of them. The congressman twice stained his bantam environmental credentials last week when he voted in favor of two measures, one to lift a decades-long ban on opening coastal areas for disruptive natural gas development and another to gut the 1973 Endangered Species Act. The first would not significantly affect Hawaii, but the second would offer up nene, monk seals, koloa, io, silverswords and other plants and wildlife for extinction. Abercrombie, unlike his House colleague Ed Case, went along with the Republican majority, led by California Rep. Richard Pombo, a fierce anti-environmentalist, to send to the Senate the bill to undo the law while handing out taxpayer dollars to private landowners should their property be home to a protected species. Abercrombie says the law has failed in species recovery, adopting the Republican line that only 1 percent of endangered species have been rescued. By those numbers, the law has a 99 percent success rate since that many have not gone extinct. The revisions would minimize the role of scientists and wildlife experts in recovery plans and allow political appointees to make final decisions, a practice typical of the science-adverse Bush administration. Most odious of the changes is one that would eliminate critical habitat necessary for a species' survival. Like the act's adversaries, Abercrombie erroneously contends that the law has spawned "horrendous" numbers of lawsuits. However, legal action has been sought primarily when the government fails to follow the law or by opportunistic landowners taking advantage of compensation provisions. The changes also would boost costs to enforce the act twofold, with more than $600 million a year going to benefit landowners. Abercrombie's actions may place him in the endangered category among Hawaii voters who tend to favor species protection. Extinction also extends to politicians.
Oahu Publications, Inc. publishes
the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, MidWeek and military newspapers BOARD OF DIRECTORS David Black, Dan Case, Dennis Francis, Larry Johnson, Duane Kurisu, Warren Luke, Colbert Matsumoto, Jeffrey Watanabe, Michael Wo HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN
Mary Poole, Editorial Page Editor (808) 529-4748; mpoole@starbulletin.com
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (USPS 249460) is published daily by Oahu Publications at 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813. Periodicals postage paid at Honolulu, Hawaii. Postmaster: Send address changes to Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. © Honolulu Star-Bulletin -- https://archives.starbulletin.com
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