Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska is opposed to placing the beluga whales in her state’s Cook Inlet on the endangered species list, arguing that to do so would be “premature.” Ms. Palin said the same thing about polar bears. For all of the caricatures, Ms. Palin can be a skillful politician. “Premature” is such a subtle, reassuring word. It implies that she won’t always be opposed to protecting belugas, just not right now.

By “premature,” Ms. Palin might mean that scientific studies of the beluga whale population are incomplete. It is hard to see her as a proponent of exacting science; some of the studies her aides cited to justify her earlier opposition to listing the polar bear as endangered flatly ignored the threats posed by climate change and were financed by the oil industry. There is little doubt that her real concern is protecting Alaska’s gas-and-oil development.

Presumably, the time for listing the belugas will be mature when the gas-and-oil infrastructure in Cook Inlet is in place and the shipping lanes are running full and the fishing industry is going gangbusters. After humans have gotten everything they want out of those waters, then it will be time.

Here’s the problem: The number of beluga whales in Cook Inlet crashed from 653 in 1994 to an estimated 278 in 2005. If it is premature to protect them now, then the time will truly be mature, by Ms. Palin’s logic, only when there are none left.