The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Coming Out of Their Shells

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Apparently, the turtles are also hurting in this recession. Florida and Massachusetts want to use part of their stimulus funds to help build "turtle tunnels" under major highways. Taxpayers, in an economic recession so bad that the government needed to temporarily take over part of private industry (think automotive), are funding the prevention of roadkill.

Florida's Department of Transportation estimates $3.4 million will be required for such a tunnel. Activists supporting the ecopassage spending say they've been researching for years and there's been no opposition until now. Of course, when they began the study eight years ago, I doubt they anticipated the recession or the stimulus bill. Saving wildlife is not the issue. Using taxpayers' hard-earned money in difficult times to fund the turtle tunnels is.

"MassHighway and the NHESP hope to have a statewide priority list of turtle road-kill hot spots," a local news story reported. Some of their stimulus funding has already gone to fund the research of the turtle population and the dangers they face.

Jobs are scarce and money is tight, but the turtles will be alright.

Rich Anderson| 8.6.09 @ 9:50AM

Ms O'Connor is not quite getting the concept. She readily admits that roadkill is an issue but then says we shouldn't fund solutions because we are in economic straits. That's like saying we should stop putting seatbelts in cars because it makes the cars more expensive. Who does she think hits the animals that become roadkill? Apparently she has never hit a 10 foot alligator or 40 pound turtle at night. The Lake Jackson Ecopassage is a transportation retrofit of a 4-lane divided highway that experiences thousands upon thousands of road incursion by wildlife. These animals pose sever threats to human safety. That's why this project is being completed. Human lives are important - recession or no recession. And by the way, the tunnel portion of the project represents less than 7% of the overall costs. Let's put the 200 construction employees to work for the year it will take to complete and let's save human lives. Saving the wildlife is an extra bonus that happens to coincide with saving human life. I suggest you re-evaluate your priorities. Safety shouldn't be compromised over economic downturns. Please let me know if you'd like to me to remove the airbags from your car. I'm sure it would save you a few dollars.

Pete| 8.6.09 @ 10:50AM

Naturally, you miss the point, and misrepresent what Ms O'Connor said. Re-read this sentence, if you will:

"Saving wildlife is not the issue. Using taxpayers' hard-earned money in difficult times to fund the turtle tunnels is."

Let the state make a decision within it's budget (i.e.-without raising taxes) to fund or not fund such things. Or slap an initiative on the ballot and see if your fellow man will tolerate a tax increase for it. It is criminal to steal taxpayer money at the federal level for such projects, no matter how much you like turtles or think roadkill is an issue. Typical liberal, you think you know what's best for everyone so you have no problem stealing from everyone to "save them from themselves." No thanks.

Rich Anderson| 8.6.09 @ 12:42PM

Pete, You also missed the point of my argument. We're not doing this for this turtles. We're doing this for humans. Again, 93% of the project does not involve tunnels. I can see your point if this was a boondoggle to pay $3 million to build a little turtle tunnel to save a few turtles. I agree that that would be ridiculous. But, to protect 2 miles of highway with thousands and thousands of animals documented crossing and posing a fatal risk to motorists, using federal money during an economic doesn't seem unreasonable. We continue to fund security checks in airports regardless of how bad the economy is. We simply would not tolerate a lapse in human safety precautions at an airport. Likewise, why should we allow continues risk of fatality along a dangerous highway because of economic difficulties? It was the feds who built this highway through the middle of a lake in the first place. It should be the feds who fix the problem. But, Pete, what you are arguing is something a little different. You are suggesting that states should fund their transportation infrastructure. If that is your point, take it up with the feds. You are merely shooting the recipient (i.e. the State of Florida).