Chapter 9
Mike sat straight up in his chair and looked into the eyes of one of the best men he knew. What wasn’t so obvious was that his good friend was also the most dangerous man he’d ever met. It gave him comfort to know Jack would have his back if he asked. Hell, even if he didn’t ask. Maybe his friend had finally found the right woman. Heather sure thought a lot of Lee, and his daughter was a very good judge of character.
“Five years ago the state of California decided it needed another prison in Northern California. The best site was just northeast of Redding and the second best just north of Eureka. The spot here in the Trinities ranked a distant third. The two much better locations washed out because of the Endangered Species Act.”
He looked down at the floor. He recited facts, thinking he probably sounded like a schoolboy who memorized an answer he didn’t agree with so he could pass an important test.
“Near Redding is out because of a tree, the Pacific Yew or Taxus Brevifolia. It is a species that is under tremendous pressure according to Americans for an Arboreal Future. Holistic healers use compotes from the tender inner bark of the Yew as part of a cancer treatment. The tree was never commercially grown because they said it was too full of pitch, too knotty, and too small for a standard mill. The herbalists, most of them avowed greens, because of their use of the Yew, are responsible for endangering the species.”
He looked up to make sure he still had their attention. “Congress passed a law a while back protecting the Yew so there would be a supply of Taxonal-the supposed anticancer compound in the tree. More research hasn’t confirmed the compound’s ability to fight cancer, but the tree was never taken off the list.”
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He took a sip of tea before he continued. “North of Eureka the site washed out because of the Albino Cave Shrimp whose numbers, according to the Sierra Club, had dropped to dangerously low levels.”
He spoke for a long time. It was a long time for anybody, but for him a long speech was three sentences. What he had to tell them wasn’t good. There had been Albino Cave Shrimp in forty-one caves in the area and the latest count said the number of caves with live shrimp was down to nineteen. Some naturalists maintained it wasn’t a species at all, not even a subspecies. They said its pigmentation was not true albinism caused by a lack of sunlight, but instead an inter-species variation caused by seepage of bleach into the groundwater. The bleach came from paper mills that recycled paper.
“My Trinity paradise will be destroyed. The construction will be bad enough, but that isn’t the end of it. This whole area will be crawling with prison guards, or ‘corrections officers’ as they are called.” He looked down at his feet.
AS Jack listened to Mike’s story, he thought about his friend. Mike wasn’t a whiner. He was a loner who, every once-in-a-while, needed to unload. Whether the environmentalist’s facts were right or wrong didn’t make any difference. It was about power. The greens had the lawyers, legislature, press, and courts on their side. The spotted owl thing had shown that. Even the environmentalists admitted the numbers were way off, but said it didn’t matter. The numbers were still dropping, but not because of man. Another owl was moving into their turf. The greens were sure the area needed to be saved from the logger’s saws. And the spotted owl was the excuse they needed to kill an industry.
When Mike was finished his eyes rested on the embers of the once crackling fire. His voice had gone rough and soft.
Jack asked. “What can we do to help?” With friends you offer to help. With close friends you help, whether they want it or not, but act as if they have a choice. Mike liked to sit and think about things. He was sure Mike had thought long and hard about what he might be able to do long before the invitation.
Mike said, “Mostly I want to get rid of this nagging feeling. This is too pat. I mean three sites and two of them get dropped because of the Endangered Species Act? Am I so close to this that I’m not seeing it right?”
“Let me ponder a while Mike. I think a bunch of businesses get blindsided by the Endangered Species Act. Let me check my sources, makes some calls.”
Mike nodded, smiled a smile that got nowhere near his eyes and reached for a book, their signal to go upstairs for a little snooze before dinner.
After they were in snuggle position under the quilt, Lee asked, “Is there anything we can do?”