July 19, 1978
Page 21601
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I commend the chairman of the Resource Protection Subcommittee, Mr. CULVER, for his efforts in developing and reporting the bill before us. I recognize the difficulty of reconciling the critical interests involved here. The potential conflict between priority national goals and the very existence of irreplaceable species is not pleasant and provides mortals with little sound foundation for judgment. The committee bill should help us avoid such confrontations as much as possible and assure that when such confrontations are unavoidable they will be resolved at the highest levels of the executive branch.
I doubt that there can be a perfect resolution of the conflicts with which we are concerned here today. The bill before us attempts to bring the best resources of the Government to bear on the exercise of the best judgment of Cabinet-level officials. I do not envy the task of the Endangered Species Committee but an easier or more attractive solution to this dilemma has not been presented.
I think it would be appropriate in the context of debate on these amendments to the Endangered Species Act to relate the ongoing efforts to resolve potential problems between the Dickey- Lincoln hydroelectric and flood control project in Maine and a plant, the furbish lousewort recently listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service.
The furbish lousewort was for many years considered an extinct species until extensive studies of the upper St. John Valley, conducted in preparation for the environmental impact statement on the Dickey-Lincoln project, discovered several colonies of the plant along the bank of the St. John River within the area that will be impounded by Dickey Dam. A potential conflict between the endangered species act and Dickey-Lincoln project was immediately apparent and was frequently referenced by individuals and groups who opposed the Dickey-Lincoln project for other reasons.
Recognizing the potential conflict, the Corps of Engineers, even before the furbish lousewort was officially listed as an endangered plant, began informal conversations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to attempt to avoid conflict. The Corps launched investigations to locate additional colonies and to determine habitat requirements for the plant. Their efforts were successful and additional colonies of the plant were discovered outside the impoundment area and it appeared that the plant could be transplanted or propagated by seed to other suitable habitat. With this groundwork laid it was not long after the plant was officially listed as an endangered plant, that the Fish and Wildlife Service recommended a conservation program "to resolve the Furbish Lousewort/Dickey-Lincoln Conflict." In the announcement of the proposed conservation program the Fish and Wildlife Service commended the Corps for its efforts to avoid conflict. I ask unanimous consent that the announcement of the recommended program and related correspondence from the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service be entered in the RECORD at the conclusion of my remarks.
Mr. President, the announcement by the Fish and Wildlife Service is not the final word on the potential conflict between the furbish lousewort and the proposed Dickey-Lincoln Dam. The Corps of Engineers is now reviewing the recommendations for mitigating action to determine their appropriateness, feasibility and cost. As the Fish and Wildlife Service noted the Corps is continuing its efforts to find means of preserving the furbish lousewort while proceeding toward construction of Dickey-Lincoln. We are perhaps fortunate in the case of Dickey-Lincoln that only a portion of the habitat for the furbish lousewort is threatened by the Dickey-Lincoln project and even those threatened colonies can apparently be transplanted or propagated by seed in alternate suitable habitats. Ironically enough, it might happen that construction of the Dickey-Lincoln project, will enhance the prospects for survival of this plant thought extinct before the project was conceived.