ORANGE COUNTY VOICES : Environmentalists Exaggerate Claims

Robert Fraser’s opinion, (“Killing Off Our Flora and Fauna Endangers Our Quality of Life,” Orange County Voices, Dec. 17) illustrates what is wrong with the environmental sciences.

Fraser advocates the preservation of endangered species habitat and opposes reform of the Endangered Species Act. Unfortunately, he supports his position by relying on a lack of evidence rather than proven facts. Because there is no evidence for a certain proposition, it must be true.

Fraser claims that today only 5% of coastal sage scrub (CSS) remains. “Environmentalists” often engage in exaggeration to transform their issues into crises and this is no exception. When the gnatcatcher was proposed for listing, they claimed that only 10% of CSS remains. Fraser cuts that number in half.

Currently, there are 500,000 acres of CSS in Southern California alone. So, let’s see, if this were the total for the state of California, then, according to Fraser’s numbers, there must have been 10 million acres of CSS. This represents 10% of all of California. When taken together with other unsubstantiated claims, e.g., 30% of California used to be wetlands, one rapidly runs out of space. Of course, since there are no records of CSS dating back over 400 years, there is no contrary evidence.

Fraser’s statement: “How can anyone calculate the cost-benefit ratio of preserving the raw material for a yet undiscovered medicine?” is another good illustration of this methodology. His statement was in reference to the discovery of Taxol, a cancer-fighting drug, that was derived from bark of the yew tree, found in rain forests. Yet what Fraser fails to mention is that Taxol is now artificially synthesized through a process that was discovered independent of the yew tree. So the argument goes; because the potential for the discovery of medicines is unknown, all things must be preserved as they are. This is the philosophy of environmental skepticism. One cannot put a price on the unknowable when it can save lives.

Yet, there is a cost for preservation. Increasing habitat preserves and other regulations drive up the cost of home development. Higher costs increase the number of persons without proper shelter who increase their risk of health hazards and premature death.

AMY GLAD

Executive Vice President

Building Industry Assn.

of Southern California, Inc.