Article
Source: Texas Environmental Law Journal
Article
04.02.15
The brightest of President George H. W. Bush’s thousand points of light were arrayed around the table. Those present included the Secretaries of the Departments of Interior and Agriculture and the Administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Principals sat at the table surrounded by their general counsels and scientists in the outer ring of chairs within whispering distance. Convened for the Northern Spotted Owl, this was the “God Committee,” so named because it held the god-like power to override the protections of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and allow actions that might cause the extinction of an entire species.
The lead up to this meeting was intense. The timber industry in the Pacific Northwest was suffering increasing constraints placed upon it by judicial protection of the Northern Spotted Owl under the ESA. But the available data, and thus the opinions of the government’s lead scientists, pointed the causal finger at the timber industry for the species’ decline. In the end, despite strong political pressure and the prospect of severe regional economic consequences, the God Committee chose not to allow the continued, unmitigated logging of old growth forests inhabited by Northern Spotted Owls.
The timber industry had lost this battle long before the God Committee was convened. They first sought to improve their practices, then sought the God Committee’s override, but ultimately failed to effectively remedy the habitat fragmentation that had brought the owl to the brink of extinction. Following the God Committee’s decision, a forest management plan was implemented, limiting logging on federal lands and providing extensive reserves for the Northern Spotted Owl and other endangered species. While the massive job losses predicted by the timber industry did not materialize, many local logging communities were economically devastated.