Professor Frank Publishes Op-ed in Capitol Weekly

Professor Richard Frank has published an op-ed in The Capitol Weekly, a Sacramento-based business newspaper, arguing that efforts to protect the Delta Smelt under the federal Endangered Species Act do not violate Dormant Commerce Clause provisions of the U.S. Constitution, and that pending litigation asserting this argument is without legal merit.

Recently, the Pacific Legal Foundation and San Joaquin agribusiness interests have challenged Endangered Species Act protections afforded the smelt, a small fish native to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that is verging on extinction primarily as a result of increasing diversion of water from the delta.  The legal challenge asserts that because the smelt is found only in California and is not fished commercially, efforts to protect the fish using federal law violate the Commerce Clause of the U. S. Constitution, which grants Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce. 

Professor Frank points out that the smelt once existed beyond California and that it has been fished commercially in the past, and argues that "the first rule of ecology is that everything is connected to everything else." The smelt is an "indicator species" whose health is an important measure of the overall health of the delta, one of California's most vital natural resources.

Frank, a 1974 graduate of King Hall, is Executive Director of the Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment at UC Berkeley and a Visiting Lecturer at King Hall.