Lords of the flies

Editorial Copyright 1999 Washington Times August 28, 1999

Remember the $500 hammer? When word got out that the federal government had spent that much for a tool one could pick up for a few bucks at the local hardware store, it became a permanent symbol of Beltway extravagance or, depending one's perspective, waste. But the story of the $500 hammer is nothing compared to the one about the $500,000 fly.

Yes, that's the amount the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service forced a San Bernadino, Calif., hospital to spend to protect the famed Delhi Sands flower-loving fly, the only fly on the Endangered Species list. No help for the precious inch-long insect, said the agency, no hospital.

Not only did the builders of the hospital have to move it 350 feet from its planned location - they had to set aside 2 acres of dune land for fly habitat, bringing the total mitigation costs to $4 million. Since there were only eight flies that needed federal protection, that means the builders had to spend, yes, $500,000 per fly. An environmental consultant on the project told this newspaper's Audrey Hudson, "No one actually knew how many flies were there, or if they counted the same fly eight times or four flies two times or so on."

And the story doesn't end there. The Clinton administration is now holding up millions of dollars worth of construction in the area - including school and sewer and flood-control projects - until San Bernadino County comes up with - brace yourself - $220 million in land acquisition funds to protect the same flies. And that means the bugs are worth . . . the mind reels. One could build the flies their own mansion in Beverly Hills - one more palatial than anything Bill Gates could conjure up on a computer - fill it from top to bottom with leftover potato salad and other fly delicacies, and it would still be cheaper than the royal estate Fish & Wildlife has in mind for them. Look for the flies in the Fortune 500 soon.

Residents of San Bernadino may fare less well, though. The affected area is already listed as an enterprise zone, which uses various incentives to bring new development, jobs and more to poor urban areas. But the fly has idled an electric substation that was supposed to provide the power for new development. Without it, commercial developers are looking elsewhere.

Fish & Wildlife officials say they believe fly-related delays are temporary; they are working with local government and business officials to try to accommodate the concerns of both the local community and the flies. But given that the agency effectively serves as a lobbyist on behalf of the flies, San Bernadino should probably not expect the agency to ask its clients to make too many concessions. And every day that the debate continues raises the cost to those who would benefit from the projects waiting to go forward. But critics should be careful about swatting this particular fly. If the agency catches them doing it, they could face fines upwards of $25,000 and possible jail time.

To say that the Fish & Wildlife Service's priorities are skewed would understate the case. One wonders if the lawmakers who approved the Endangered Species Act could have anticipated the day that the interests of San Bernadino's urban poor, or even of man in general, would carry less weight than that of flies. If Congress doesn't approve these priorities, it's up to lawmakers to pass the reforms necessary to change them.

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