Salmon Thrown Into Al Gore's Presidential Campaign Run
12/29/99
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Title: Salmon Thrown Into Al Gore's Presidential Campaign Run
Source: The Associated Press
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 29, 1999
Byline: Jonathan Broder
A month before the New Hampshire primary, the neighboring state of
Maine is embroiled in a bitter confrontation with the Clinton
administration that could challenge Vice President Al Gore's
claim to be both pro-business and the campaign's leading
environmental candidate.
The dispute centers on the seemingly mundane issue of the wild
Atlantic salmon, which spawns in Maine's wood-lined rivers before
heading out to the North Atlantic, where their numbers have
dangerously thinned out over the past few decades.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt last month announced the
administration's plan to add the Atlantic salmon to the endangered
species list — a classification long sought by environmental
groups. The listing would protect the fish's spawning grounds by
prohibiting the use of eight Maine rivers for fish farming and
agricultural irrigation, as well as banning nearby logging.
But many Maine officials strongly oppose that plan, and argue it
could put thousands out of work by seriously disrupting the state's
resource-based economy. The officials also argue the salmon
population's decline is more the result of natural predators and
overfishing in the North Atlantic than any misuse of the rivers.
The battle is part of a larger war across the nation between states
whose economies depend on extracting natural resources and a new
breed of environmentalists who use laws protecting endangered species
as a wedge to place large tracts of wilderness under federal
protection.
Aware of its potential to become a political issue in the campaign,
Gore is treading carefully around the controversy, trying to keep
everyone happy.
"We believe that we need to find a way to protect both the species
and Maine's economy, and we should do that working with all sides,
the governor, the congressional delegation and related industries,"
said Gore's campaign spokesman Chris Lehane. "The key here is
striking a balance between protecting the species and economic
concerns."
Gore's judicious approach might not work this time. Environmental
activists have not forgotten how the administration handled the 1993
proposed designation of the spotted owl as an endangered species. The
listing would have enjoined loggers from cutting down trees in
Washington state, the bird's natural habitat.
The compromises that followed left many environmentalists disgruntled
with the administration's split-the-difference approach toward
protecting the environment, and some of the more radical
environmental groups have turned to the courts to win the territory
that comes with an endangered species designation under a 1973 law.
In Maine, a coalition of three such groups has filed suit against the
administration to force it to declare the Atlantic salmon an
endangered species under emergency regulations.
Meanwhile, with the primary season about to begin, opponents of the
designation in Maine have not hesitated to cast the administration's
proposed listing in the harshest political light.
But what is really fishy, says King's office and Sen. Olympia Snowe,
a Republican, are the suspected motives and timing behind the
administration's endangered species listing.
They note that in 1997, when Federal Fish and Wildlife authorities
first proposed such a listing, the administration agreed with Maine
officials to a less drastic salmon conservation plan drawn up by
state officials that was to last for five years. But after only two
years, and only a few weeks before the New Hampshire primary, the
administration abruptly reversed course and reaffirmed its plan to
list the fish as an endangered species.
"It's a little too convenient," said a state official in Augusta,
Maine's capital, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The suspicion is the administration timed its policy reversal to help
Gore's presidential campaign. With the fate of the Atlantic salmon
supposedly in the balance, Gore now has a tailor-made opportunity to
stand up for the endangered fish and impress environmentalists, whose
support he needs, these state officials allege.
And with Maine a marginal state in his election strategy, the theory
goes, Gore has little to lose politically by siding with the fish
over the state's farmers and loggers.
If only that were true, counters David Carle, head of the
Conservation Action Project in Nashua, N.H., one of several
environmental groups that are pushing the administration to list the
Atlantic salmon once and for all as an endangered species.
Rather than the product of political calculation, Carle maintains the
administration's proposed listing represented a prudent last-minute
capitulation to a lawsuit against the federal government filed by his
and two other environmental groups.
If anything, Carle said, Gore has tried to avoid any environmental
disputes during the campaign. Carle notes the administration's
proposal to list the Atlantic salmon as an endangered species calls
for as much as 18 months of debate before a final decision is taken.
"Do the math. That's after the election. The next administration,
which ever it is, will be the one that will have to deal with it,"
Carle said.
Gore's campaign spokesman Chris Lehane was unable to say where Gore
stood on the Atlantic salmon issue.
"One, this is not an issue which has had a lot of national attention.
Two, Maine is not a state that is particularly imperative in the
electoral process," offered a Gore campaign official. "So this is
not something that we're putting in a political context."
Gore's efforts to portray himself as the environmental candidate have
thus far met with mixed results.
Last summer, the vice president's canoe trip down the Connecticut
River, meant to underscore his concern for the wilderness, ran
aground when it emerged that New Hampshire officials had artificially
raised the level of the drought-stricken river to make Gore's voyage
more photogenic.
Gore suffered another set back when Friends of the Earth, an
important environmental lobby, endorsed his rival, former Sen. Bill
Bradley. Other environmental groups have since withheld their
endorsements, openly expressing doubts about Gore's record as vice
president and his commitment to the environment as a candidate.
"Gore should be all over this, but he's not," Carle said. "He has
been very reluctant to push the environment during his campaigning
here in New Hampshire, and I'm disappointed by his failure to step up
to the issues."
Carle and other activists say Bradley has been far more proactive on
environmental issues. They gave Bradley high points for dispatching
Rep. George Miller of California, widely known for his defense of
endangered species, to talk to the environmental community in New
Hampshire recently. The general assumption among these groups is that
Republican front-runner George W. Bush and the other GOP candidates
would side with business over environmental concerns.
Meanwhile, Gov. King has intensified pressure on the candidates to
either speak out against the endangered species listing during the
campaign or reverse it after the election by pointing out that the
environmental activists involved in the issue come from the most
radical wing of the movement.
Indeed, groups like Carle's Conservation Action Project belong to the
so-called deep ecology wing of the environmental movement, whose goal
is the restoration of wilderness to its original pristine state. For
several years now, its main weapon has been lawsuits to challenge
alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act, which protects
"critical habitats" as well as the species itself.
"To protect the salmon, you must protect the forest," Carle said.
Gore may not be able avoid the issue much longer, but the nudge may
come from Capitol Hill, not Maine. When the Senate returns after the
New Year, it will take up a bill specifically designed to disarm the
radical environmentalists by separating the process of designating
critical habitats from the process of designating endangered species.