Norton makes greens see red Salmon listing may be revisited

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While many Maine environmentalists join the chorus of national groups criticizing President-elect Bush’s choice of Gale Norton to be interior secretary, others in the state hold out the possibility that the conservative nominee could overturn the recent controversial decision to list Atlantic salmon as an endangered species here.

Norton, a former Colorado attorney general, has raised the ire of many environmental groups because she has said that she believes companies should be financially compensated for not polluting and has supported oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She also worked under Ronald Reagan’s interior secretary, James Watt, who drew fire for such proposals as damming the Grand Canyon.

However, Gov. Angus King and Maine’s aquaculture industry are hopeful that Norton, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, will take a fresh look at important environmental issues in Maine, especially the salmon listing.

King “does think that a new administration will take a fresh look at what has been a fiasco,” the governor’s spokesman, John Ripley, said of the federal government’s decision to list wild Atlantic salmon in eight Maine rivers as an endangered species. Although King does not place much hope on the possibility that the listing will be overturned, Ripley said the governor is hopeful that the new administration will review the decision, “which was based on politics and not sound science.”

King has not yet decided whether to ask the new administration to reconsider the decision, his spokesman said.

Removing a species from the endangered species list is not a simple process and cannot be done by a Cabinet official. Just as a proposed listing is subject to public comment and scientific scrutiny, so too would a proposal to de-list.

Paul Nickerson, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s New England Endangered Species Division, said last month that his agency does not have any new information that would warrant a recommendation to de-list Atlantic salmon.

Rather than overturning the listing, an Interior Department headed by Norton, who has said she believes the Endangered Species Act is unconstitutional, could draft a recovery plan for the fish that is more industry-friendly than what has been proposed so far.

Shortly after the listing was announced in November, the state filed a federal lawsuit challenging it, alleging that the decision was based on flawed science. The state has long argued that the fish in question are not genetically unique because millions of hatchery-raised fish have been stocked into Maine’s rivers. That court case, possibly the first in which a state has challenged an endangered species listing, is proceeding.

The decision to list the fish as endangered was made by both the Interior and Commerce departments. The agencies said the fish were on the brink of extinction and were threatened by the aquaculture industry.

This is because farmed fish that escape from sea cages compete for food and habitat with wild fish and pass diseases on to their wild cousins, agency officials said when the listing was announced. In addition, farmed fish breed with wild fish, thereby further diluting the genetics of Maine’s wild population, they said.

Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, said fish farmers were hopeful that a new administration would be “willing to listen to our side of the story.” Under the current administration, he said, the aquaculture industry has been singled out for further regulation and their contention that the so-called wild fish are not genetically unique has been ignored.

While an official recovery plan for Maine’s Atlantic salmon won’t be written for up to 30 months, federal fisheries officials have said that fish farms should be required to mark their fish so they can be tracked if they escape from pens. In addition, the federal officials have told the industry to stop using fish with European genes. While some companies have done so, others argue that these fish are more resistant to disease, grow faster and are necessary to remain competitive.

Efforts to undo the salmon plan could be more subtle, said Jym St. Pierre, Maine director for RESTORE: The North Woods, the Massachusetts group that originally petitioned the federal government to list the fish. He said the new department heads could “starve” salmon conservation efforts by failing to provide money to implement recovery plans.

However, St. Pierre said, a new administration likely won’t want to immediately pick a fight over salmon.

A spokeswoman for Norton said last Friday that the Interior Department nominee would not talk about her position on issues such as salmon until asked by U.S. senators during her confirmation hearing, which is scheduled to begin Thursday.

Last week a host of environmental groups in Washington blasted Norton for what they say are extreme views.

Some of those sentiments are shared by organizations in Maine.

“We strongly oppose [her nomination] because of her views and her record,” said Tom Boutureira, a conservation organizer for the Sierra Club’s Maine chapter. “She doesn’t support the very environmental laws she needs to uphold.”

Norton’s confirmation would be bad news for efforts to create a 3.2 million-acre Maine Woods National Park, a concept supported by the Sierra Club.

“We would be very surprised if she stood up for a feasibility study,” Boutureira said. The first step in the creation of such a park is for Congress to authorize a feasibility study. National parks come under the purview of the Interior Department.

The group that is most active in advocating for the park, however, does not believe that Norton would be all bad.

“She will probably go out of her way not to be the James Watt of the Bush administration,” said St. Pierre of RESTORE.

Sometimes, he said, Republican administrations can be more beneficial to conservation efforts than Democratic administrations because Republicans have to go out of their way to show that they are not anti-environmental.

St. Pierre said that many people mistakenly assume that all Democrats are pro-environment, while all Republicans are pro-business and anti-environment. A lot of national parks have been created and environmental laws put in place during Republican administrations, he said.

“I don’t look at Republicans controlling Congress and the administration as being dooming to conservation efforts,” St. Pierre said.

Plus, he said, George Bush has a connection to Maine because his family owns a vacation home in Kennebunkport and his father has spent time in the North Woods.

“He must have some place in his heart for Maine,” St. Pierre said.

Advocates of property rights cheered Norton’s nomination.

“Gale Norton is a great pick,” said Jon Reisman of Cooper, past president of the Maine Conservation Rights Institute. “She supports public land for public use, not special interests.”

Norton supports use of federally owned lands by a wide variety of users, including hunters and snowmobilers, groups that often raise the objections of environmentalists.

While officials of Maine’s Indian tribes were not fully aware of Norton’s background, they planned to keep an eye on her actions, if she becomes secretary of the interior, a job that includes jurisdiction over the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

“If the tribes are considered environmentalists, we’ll keep a watchful eye on this one,” said Barry Dana, governor of the Penobscot Nation.

He said the federal system should have enough checks and balances that Norton’s views will not have much impact on government policies. But, after hearing of her failure as Colorado’s attorney general to prosecute companies that had violated environmental laws, he said, “it could be scary.”