Tulsa World
by: JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau
Monday, April 25, 2011
4/25/2011 5:14:24 AM
WASHINGTON - Oklahoma Transportation Secretary Gary Ridley thinks a century-old law passed in part to keep birds from ending up on women's hats is to blame for delaying a state bridge project.
According to the veteran transportation official, that was a first for his agency.
But it may be only the beginning, Ridley warned after a recent Senate hearing where he blasted a number of federal agencies and their policies.
"It seems somewhat ridiculous to me,'' he said, singling out one of the swallows whose love for nesting under man-made structures is well-known.
"This is not an endangered species.''
Indeed, Ridley said, the swallow in question is almost as common as a sparrow, but one of its nests on or near a road project is enough to bring work to a screeching halt.
Ridley referred to a contract to paint a bridge in Ellis County that had to be delayed last year because of a nest.
Dawn Sullivan, environmental programs division engineer for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, said that contractor had to shut down the project until the birds left.
"It cost us nearly $28,000 to have him come back,'' said Sullivan, whom Ridley described as his agency's conscience... FULL ARTICLE
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Mon, April 25, 2011
by John Cox