Northampton County's $20k Turtle Problem

Rare turtles expected to cost county over $20,000, delay bridge project
By Tom Shortell | The Express-Times

"A discovery of the continent's rarest turtles in Plainfield Township will set Northampton County back by five figures and could potentially delay a bridge project for weeks."

My Comments About The Article AboveI'm not surprised at all. Rather I'd be surprised if the bridge weren't held up for a bog turtle survey. Here's why. I posted on this very subject back on July 22, 2011. I had taken it down but re-post it below once again in it's entirety. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~



Bog Turtles- Enough Already!

Throughout a number of states here in the northeast a whole bunch of projects are being held up by the endangered Bog Turtle.

     ENOUGH ALREADY!

Here's just three of them:* Yeakels Mill Road Bridge (East Macungie Road) in 2011

* Main Street bridge (Coopersburg) in 2011- They didn't find any in a survey before they tore the old bridge down (shutting down the highway to motorist), BUT the government told them to do another one again anyway.

* PPL's 138/69KV Line Reconstruction (Coopersburg) in 2007- I particularly like the part that stated, "..surveys were completed along the right-of-way and potential Bog Turtle habitat was found, but no Bog Turtles." I wonder how much that survey report cost PPL (us bill payers)?The way it works is the feds won't allow any work to be done during the Bog turtle's mating season (April-October). Ain't that a hoot? It also happens to be the best time for construction. The time when winter snow or spring thaws could hamper construction.

Face it most bridges are built over streams and wetlands. So that pretty much makes all of these small projects susceptible to becoming great big expen$ive ones.

Apparently there's more to this. I hadn't realized a whole bunch of people who call themselves "turtle surveyors" get paid to do this kind of thing. Here's another list of them along with the required permit. I'd file this under "creating job security." Government's good at that.

If this turtle is costing tens of thousands of dollar$ in each instance (a lot more when you put them all together) and is causing delay$, why not just spend half as much raising them on a turtle farm? You could raise these little guys then take them to the so-called threatened areas after construction is completed. Too simple, eh?

Government stupidity in action-- "In May, 1995, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) conducted an *ARMED* raid on a man's home. His crime was breeding an "endangered species" of turtles without the blessing of NJDEP...

"She said the family has spent nearly $35,000 in legal fees to try to get the turtles returned to the natural habitat that the (name redacted) constructed on their property. She said she was told by a state bureaucrat not to fight them in court "because we have 450 lawyers."...

.. officers from the Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife of the state's Department of Environmental Protection raided the home... seized 26 bog turtles, which are on the endangered species list in this state... The officers who conducted the raid were armed and even wore flak jackets."If there were such a turtle farm dedicated to breeding and raising these endangered species there'd be no need for bridge builders having to tie up these expensive, and inconvenient projects for years?

Nah, I guess that would make too much sense!

The state already funds private individuals to raise pheasants for hunting. Counties to raise fish in hatcheries. Neither of them are even endangered.

“Do not be bullied out of your common sense by the specialist;
two to one, he is a pedant”
~Oliver Wendell Holmes~