Mayflies as big as polar bears

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I’ve probably seen a million-some mayflies in the course of all the fishing I’ve done. I’ve never seen a polar bear in the wild, and wouldn’t want to unless I had some distance and some level of protection (snowcat; immensely strong cabin). But I certainly like that the polar bears are out there. Both creatures are probably now on their way to becoming poster-animals in the debate over conservation and energy extraction. 

In the case of the mayfly, as Bloomberg.com reports, coal-mining companies might soon have to prove they don’t harm this very important order of insects when they dump mining waste in valleys, a seemingly impossible task because dumping waste is about the fastest way to destroy a local population of aquatic animals: 

Companies such as Massey Energy Co. that mine coal there by stripping mountain peaks and dumping debris in streams are being asked by the Environmental Protection Agency for the first time to safeguard the mayfly, one of the oldest winged insects and a bait favored by fly fisherman. Applicants for new mines will have to show they wouldn’t cause pollution deadly to the aquatic bug. That puts at risk about $3 billion a year in coal that operators led by Massey and International Coal Group Inc. extract in Appalachia, said Kevin Book, an analyst at ClearView Energy Partners LLC. Without fresh permits to dump debris, mines may shut by 2012 in states such as West Virginia. . . .“The future of mountaintop mining looks bleak,” Book, who is based in Washington, said in an interview. “Ripping off mountaintops gets cheap clean coal, but there’s no way to do it without environmental impacts”. . . Mountaintop mining produces millions of tons of crushed shale and sandstone dumped in valleys and streams. Rainwater flowing though the debris carries dissolved metals into waters below, a lethal stew for mayflies, the EPA says.

There would be something poetically satisfying about conservation of small aquatic flies bringing maintain-top mining to a halt. How would I type on this laptop without coal-fired electricity? I’m not sure. I’ll think up an alternative while I’m fly-fishing.

As for the polar bear, the administration of Alaska Governor Sean Parnell is suing the federal government for listing, in 2008, the polar bear as a “threatened” species, a status which it fears might hinder further energy extraction. As the Seattle Times reports: 

“Currently some are attempting to improperly use the Endangered Species Act to shut down resource development,” Parnell says. “I’m not going to let this happen on my watch.” As Alaska North Slope wells dry up, the state is turning to potential offshore discoveries to refill the trans-Alaska pipeline and ensure the long-term prospects of a $26 billion proposed natural gas pipeline. Protections for polar bears under the Endangered Species Act could thwart that, Parnell says, adding that they’re not needed.

Such moxie cracks me up. We poor slobs down here in “the South” send or leave more federal dollars per capita to our fellow Americans in Alaska than to the citizens of any other state. And yet when we say that we’d like to protect an increasingly rare and pressured apex species — an animal that has bearing as a species on all Americans’ lives — the Guv gets pissy about anything that might dent the state’s Alaska-for-Alaska energy policy. (Interesting note: Dirk Kempthorne, who was something of a bear-loathing guv himself, was G.W. Bush’s Interior Secretary who approved the “threatened” status for polar bears.)

Parnell is angry that policy might influence an outcome that he doesn’t like. That isn’t the point of such policy — the point of that is real, viable species conservation. The bonus effect is actually what he doesn’t like: Increased emphasis on the protection and conservation of such creatures — mayflies or polar bears or whatever else is set-up for a loss by continued Bush-Cheney-era extraction practices — that spurs or forces us Americans to develop new, less destructive methods of extraction and new viable forms fuel. 

One sure thing: polar bears are easier to sell to the public than insects. These predators are tremendously beautiful and impressive. The cubs are exceedingly cute. With ice-floe losses due to temperature changes, the plight of the bears as they struggle to deal with major environmental changes will appeal to humans dealing with the same thing. Plus, there are endless versions of stuffed-animal and toy polar bears. 

Stuffed-animal mayflies? I think not. Hardly anyone even knows what a mayfly is (there are scores of different species within the mayfly order), and rarely notice them except during major evening hatches in the spring, when the bugs collect in droves around outdoor lights. In some towns that still have hatches of the larger species, piles of dead mayflies will litter the streets and roads after their mating ceremonies are done and the bugs die. People usually think all the thousands of dead bugs are “gross.”  

Yet, I wonder if now the fight for mayflies will have as much a public image as the fight for the bears given what might be at stake — a strong fight to end the horrendous practice of cutting down mountains for coal. All you need is one high-profile fly fisher (I’m looking at you, Tom Brokaw) to lend themselves to the case, and the largely affluent, activist, and well-informed fly-casting crowd can easily jump in. I even hear the President likes fly fishing. Mayflies could prove as mighty as the polar bear in a conservation fight because of sheer demographics, while the polar bear wins the cuddly stuff-animal crowd. 

In the meantime, yeah, turn off unnecessary lights, cut back on hot water use, and, indeed, type faster. 

via Mayfly May Thwart $3 Billion in Coal Mined in U.S. Mountaintops – Bloomberg.com.