Kempthorne holds ‘listening session’ in Spokane

The meeting on President Bush’s ‘cooperative conservation’ proposal drew disparate views Wednesday

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. — Well, it was billed as a “listening session.”

More than 180 people signed up to speak at the first public hearing on the Bush administration’s “cooperative conservation” plan, which is seeking ideas on how groups with radically different goals can work together to protect the environment.

“I don’t believe Washington, D.C., has all the answers. Neither does the president,” said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in opening the first of at least 24 planned public meetings.

The Bush administration, which held a conference on the topic last year, defines cooperative conservation as the efforts of landowners, communities, conservation groups, industry and government to work together to preserve the environment.

Many of the speakers applauded the concept, and some pointed to examples where groups had already cooperated to protect the environment. But many people were skeptical.

Washington state Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, said it was paramount that private property rights be protected from bureaucrats and special interests.

“Only the private property owner has anything tangible on the table,” Kretz said.

Kretz noted that forests in his district were on fire, in part, he contended, because of restrictions on logging. He also noted that efforts to open a gold mine in Okanogan County had bogged down for years because of environmental concerns.

He saved his harshest criticism for efforts to save Columbia River salmon runs, noting that millions of dollars are spent on salmon recovery each year.

Several salmon runs on the Columbia system are listed under the Endangered Species Act, and there have long been battles over whether to breach four dams on the Snake River to make it easier for the fish to reach spawning grounds.

Kretz said salmon are now returning in large numbers.

“We have developed a salmon recovery industry,”

Kretz said, fueled by electricity ratepayers and “the urban ignorant.”

Other speakers called for reforms of the Endangered Species Act and other long-standing environmental laws they said are inefficient.