It reads as predictably as a Harlequin romance:
Rejected by the judiciary, the University of Arizona has rushed
into the arms of its political allies. On July 31, for the third
time in a year, a federal court shut down the university’s plan to
build its $60 million Large Binocular Telescope outside an area on
Mount Graham OK’d by Congress (HCN, 7/24/95).
But Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe, R, has taken up the university’s cause.
He is currently drafting legislation that would allow construction
to proceed on the university’s preferred site. It is some 1,500
feet from the area that Congress exempted from both the Endangered
Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act in a law
shepherded through Congress by Arizona Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D, in
1988.
Kolbe insists: “Everyone agrees it’s a
better location for the (red) squirrels,” which are listed as
endangered. Telescope opponents counter that the university’s
motives don’t center on the well-being of the squirrels, but rather
on the superior optical quality of the preferred site and the money
and prestige the Large Binocular Telescope would generate. They
registered their displeasure at a demonstration at Kolbe’s Tucson
office earlier this month.
“If
the university cared about the red squirrel – which it doesn’t –
the only option is to build their telescopes on a less
environmentally damaging location off Mount Graham,” says long-time
opponent Robin Silver.
” Lisa
Jones
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Another judge says no.
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