Do not make the mistake of thinking that because my conclusion is the same as another person's that my reasoning is the same
Ted Stevens thinks the Alaskan fishermen and processors he represents shouldn't have to comply with federal rules they don't like. So the powerful Republican, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, attached a rider to the Commerce, Justice and State appropriations bill to give Alaskan industry a pass.
Stevens insists that Alaskans have done a better job husbanding their fish-teeming waters than have other states. Regardless of whether he is right about the health of the Alaskan crab, salmon and pollock populations, he's wrong to use the appropriations process to grant favors that rewrite federal resource law behind closed doors.
One provision of his rider would freeze all funds to enforce federal laws imposing new limits on crabbing and fishing in sensitive ocean habitat. Another legal barnacle guarantees certain processing companies 90% of the lucrative Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab catch. This unprecedented deal not only would favor some processors and unfairly exclude others, it would hobble fishermen from offering their prized catches to the highest bidders.
Posted by P6 at October 5, 2003 05:23 PM | Trackback URL: http://www.prometheus6.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1852