11/29/06: Environmentalism via the American Way

Few can dispute the success of the Federal government in saving endangered species of North America from the brink of extinction, but --in true American fashion--let's not forget the role that the free market can also play in promoting environmental conservation.

Empowered by the Endangered Species Act in the early 1970s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (i.e. the federal bureaucracy) has helped protect such majestic animals as the bald eagle and the grizzly bear.

In 1975, only 136 grizzly bears lived in Yellowstone National Park. Today that number tops 600. In fact, the grizzly bear has made such a remarkable comeback that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is contemplating allowing limited hunting of grizzlies in and around Yellowstone National Park.

Our readers are free to debate whether this limited hunt should be allowed, but what can not be debated is the success of the policy that helped revive the grizzly bear in the lower 48 states.

Environmental special interest groups such as the National Wildlife Federation, which pushed for passage of the Endangered Species Act 30 years ago, deserve much of the credit. But laws can't do anything unless they are enforced.

The Department of the Interior and its U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with constant input and pressure from special interest groups have helped to enforce the Endangered Species Act, and the debate about delisting the grizzly is a sign of their success.

While the federal government successfully intervened in the protection of North American animals, recent news also shows us the key role that the free market economy can play in environmentalism.

With the nation nervous about the next surge in oil prices, private American companies are clamoring to research bio-fuels that could help us end oudependencece on foreign oil.

The success of the corn farmers'’ lobby to get the Federal government to help finance corn-based ethanol production is legendary. But now comes word that the nation'’s top agribusiness--Archer Daniels Midland Co.-- is investing heavily in prairie grass as a potential bio-fuel.

It seems the switch grass--which inhabited the Illinois prairies centuries before humans came along to plant corn and soy beans-- might be a much more efficient bio-fuel than corn-based ethanol. This hardy species thrives in the summer heat of the prairies and could prove to be a more cost effective supply of bio-fuel.

In conserving our environment, the federal government has demonstrated enormous success protecting endangered species, but let'’s not forget the role that citizens and environmently conscious corporations can play in looking for new (even profitable) ways to become more environmentally friendly.