Move Over Smelt, There's A New Kid In Town.

Imagine a state burdened by 12.4% unemployment. Consider that the businesses of that same state are buried beneath the weight of increasing regulations. Moreover, that state is in a budget crisis that desperately needs businesses to flourish and needs people to find private sector employment to ease that crisis. Businesses have to succeed and grow before they can hire and provide jobs. Regulations restrict that success. So, the logical thing to do is to make it easier for businesses to do business and reduce regulations, right? Not if you’re California. If you’re California, you add more regulations.

Wednesday (3/3/10) the California Fish and Game Commission voted 3-2 to list the tiger salamander as a threatened species in California even though the species is already protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. It has yet to be determined how California will implement the new regulation, but there’s little doubt that it will result in more hoops for businesses, primarily in the areas of agriculture and development. According to Noelle Cremers, Director of Natural Resources and Commodities for the Farm Bureau:

The salamander is already protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, but the federal act contains rules that recognize efforts by ranchers that benefit salamander habitat, and allowed them to continue raising cattle without threat of being prosecuted under the ESA. The state law does not have the same provisions. So this ruling will require ranchers and farmers to go through more paperwork and regulation, without doing anything to help a creature that is already protected.

As far as development is concerned, the biggest impact will probably be more paperwork. But the federal ESA has already resulted in delays in major construction projects. In 2004, Mike Martini, at that time a councilman for Santa Rosa, testified before Congress blaming federal protection of the salamander for adding costs and time delays to agricultural and construction projects. In fact, because the tiger salamander lives mostly underground and only comes out to breed it can take up to two years to study the creature. Add State regulations and that will only increase delays. When there are delays, people aren’t working.

Critics of the proposal that the Commission’s vote was based on argue that the recommendation does not use accurate population counts for the salamander. It also overstates the amount of rural land that may be developed in the future. So, why would the California Fish and Game Commission do this? Their own website states that the Commission weighs the needs of the people when they make decisions. A vote that makes it harder to do business and create jobs doesn’t seem at this point in time to meet the needs of the people. So why would they do it? They were sued by the Center for Biological Diversity.

This is the lunacy that is California. Even with a beleaguered economy special interest groups are allowed to cost the state even more. As Commissioner Daniel Sutton, one of the ‘no’ votes, points out:

I see what’s wrong with California...The inordinate amounts of time, effort and money that have been spent by the Department of Fish and Game and the Fish and Game Commission on this matter is unbelievable.

Commissioner Jim Kellogg, the other ‘no’ vote, states further:

I do not agree with any constituent group going to outside court and suing over a decision the commission studies and … makes a correct decision on, and then having some friendly judge by luck of the draw rule against the commission. It’s not right.

No, it’s not right. But that’s California.

Move Over Smelt, There's A New Kid In Town.