Cite as: 531 U. S. 159 (2001)
Stevens, J., dissenting
literally millions of people regularly participate in bird-watching and hunting and that those activities generate a host of commercial activities of great value.17 The causal
connection between the filling of wetlands and the decline of commercial activities associated with migratory birds is not "attenuated," Morrison, 529 U. S., at 612; it is direct and concrete. Cf. Gibbs v. Babbitt, 214 F. 3d 483, 492-493 (CA4 2000) ("The relationship between red wolf takings and interstate commerce is quite direct—with no red wolves, there will be no red wolf related tourism . . .").
Finally, the migratory bird rule does not blur the "distinction between what is truly national and what is truly local." Morrison, 529 U. S., at 617-618. Justice Holmes cogently observed in Missouri v. Holland that the protection of migratory birds is a textbook example of a national problem. 252 U. S., at 435 ("It is not sufficient to rely upon the States [to protect migratory birds]. The reliance is vain . . ."). The destruction of aquatic migratory bird habitat, like so many other environmental problems, is an action in which the benefits (e. g., a new landfill) are disproportionately local, while many of the costs (e. g., fewer migratory birds) are widely dispersed and often borne by citizens living in other States. In such situations, described by economists as involving "externalities," federal regulation is both appropriate and necessary. Revesz, Rehabilitating Interstate
17 In 1984, the U. S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment found that, in 1980, 5.3 million Americans hunted migratory birds, spending $638 million. U. S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Wetlands: Their Use and Regulation 54 (OTA-O-206, Mar. 1984). More than 100 million Americans spent almost $14.8 billion in 1980 to watch and photograph fish and wildlife. Ibid. Of 17.7 million birdwatchers, 14.3 million took trips in order to observe, feed, or photograph waterfowl, and 9.5 million took trips specifically to view other water-associated birds, such as herons like those residing at petitioner's site. U. S. Dept. of Interior, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Census, 1996 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation 45, 90 (issued Nov. 1997).
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