Controversy Erupts Over ESA
By Brad Knickerbocker, Christian Science Monitor
July 25, 2007

From the day it became law 34 years ago, the federal Endangered Species Act has been politically hot – a flash point of contention between defenders of nature and advocates of economic progress. Now, the ESA is embroiled in new controversy.

Two different government entities are investigating decisions by Bush administration officials related to species recovery. In one, the US Interior Department is reviewing the scientific integrity of decisions under the law made by a political appointee, who recently resigned under fire. At the same time, Congress is investigating evidence that Vice President Dick Cheney interfered with decisions involving water in California and Oregon that resulted in the killing of tens of thousands of Klamath River salmon, some of which were listed as "threatened" species.

Both episodes illustrate what critics say is the Bush administration's resistance to the law.

During President Bush's time in the White House, the listing of endangered and threatened species has slowed down considerably. It's a fraction of the number his father made in four years (58 new listings compared with 231 by the senior Bush), and most of those were court-ordered.

New funding for protection of such species has been cut as well. As a result, 278 "candidate species" are waiting to join the list of 1,352 plant and animal species now listed as "endangered" or "threatened."

Scientists and activists see the ESA as the last chance for preventing extinction of dwindling plants and animals ranging from the obscure – the rock gnome lichen, for example – to the grizzly bear and other "charismatic megafauna."

But to developers, it can be a very costly impediment to business. And to farmers, ranchers, loggers, and others whose work is land-based, it can threaten a traditional way of life. Many fights over species protection have ended up in federal court.

But it is the political pressure on government scientists that is the current focus.

Following a critical report by the inspector general of the Interior Department in March, Julie MacDonald – the official in charge of fish and wildlife, including those listed under the ESA – resigned.

Fish and Wildlife Service employees complained that Ms. MacDonald had "bullied, insulted, and harassed the professional staff … to change documents and alter biological reporting," according to the report.

"We confirmed that MacDonald has been heavily involved with editing, commenting on, and reshaping the endangered species program's scientific reports from the field," the inspector general wrote, also noting that "she has no formal educational background in natural sciences, such as biology."

The Interior Department inspector general also found that MacDonald had "disclosed nonpublic information to private sector sources" – special interests that had a financial stake in species listing and protection – including the California Farm Bureau Federation and the Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm that specializes in property rights advocacy and litigation.

Government officials moved quickly to fix the political damage.

Last week, the director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (the Interior Department agency in charge of endangered species programs) announced that eight decisions MacDonald had made under the ESA would be examined for scientific and legal discrepancies.

In a phone conference with reporters, Fish and Wildlife Service director H. Dale Hall called the episode "a blemish … on the scientific integrity" of the agency. "When I became director, I made scientific integrity my highest priority, and these reviews underscore our commitment to species conservation," Mr. Hall said.

Critics welcomed the action. But they want the internal review to include many more of some 200 species decisions that MacDonald had a hand in, such as those for the marbled murrelet (a shore bird), the bull trout, and the controversial northern spotted owl. Also, they say, the problem goes deeper.

"The real culprit here is not a renegade political appointee," says Francesca Grifo, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' (UCS) scientific integrity program. "The real culprit is a process where decisions are made behind closed doors."

In 2005, UCS surveyed about 450 Fish and Wildlife Service scientists. Two-thirds said they knew of cases where Interior Department political appointees had interfered with scientific reports and decisions, and 84 said they had been ordered to remove or change technical information from scientific documents.

Political pressure is alleged to have taken place during a summer drought in 2002 when Klamath River water was allowed to irrigate farmers' fields rather than provide adequate passage for salmon headed upstream to spawn as government scientists had recommended.

As reported in detail recently by The Washington Post, Vice President Cheney intervened in decisions involving a 10-year water plan for the Klamath River basin, siding with farmers and ranchers over environmental considerations. Courts later termed that plan "arbitrary and capricious and in violation of the Endangered Species Act."

As a result of the low water flows that summer, which make the water warmer and the fish more prone to disease, some 70,000 salmon died. Since then, fish runs have remained low, causing economic hardship for Indian tribes as well as commercial and sport-fishing businesses along the West Coast.

The House Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a hearing next week to investigate "political influence … on agency science and decisionmaking." Cheney has been invited to testify, but he is not expected to attend the hearing.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and as defined under the provisions of "fair use", any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment for non-profit research and for educational use by our membership.

Decisions on Species to be Reviewed
Seattle PI
July 21, 2007

In the wake of the resignation of a Bush administration official who was rebuked for meddling in scientists' calls about protecting endangered species, federal officials on Friday announced plans to re-examine eight decisions influenced by the disgraced official.

But three Pacific Northwest species that sparked controversy -- the spotted owl, the bull trout and a seabird called a marbled murrelet -- won't be included in the review. Environmentalists labeled the administration's move a "token effort designed for damage control."

Friday's announcement by Dale Hall, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, comes less than three months after the resignation of Julie MacDonald, an Interior Department official in charge of the wildlife service. She had been chastised by the agency's inspector general for bullying agency scientists and leaking information to industry groups.

Hall said officials ordered the re-examination of eight decisions about imperiled species because "we want to make sure that the science is true."

The agency said the review would not cover numerous other decisions MacDonald influenced because officials "determined that her involvement in the outcome of those decisions did not affect the species' status. Many other decisions influenced by MacDonald involved application of law and policy that were within her authority to make."

But Kristen Boyles, a Seattle lawyer with the Earthjustice law firm who frequently sues on behalf of threatened species, argued that the review should be much broader.

"If Ms. MacDonald and others in D.C. made illegal decisions, I don't care if you call them policy, science or economic decisions, they should be reviewed if those decisions are invalid," Boyles said.

The most recent controversy in the Northwest involved a Washington, D.C.-based team of Bush administration officials, including MacDonald, who overruled a panel of Northwest-based experts and reduced by one-fifth the amount of acreage protected as "critical habitat" for the spotted owl.

"People's bells should go off when the folks in an agency's regional office are overruled by political appointees in D.C.," Boyles said. "I don't believe the region is always right, but I believe they are paying attention to the science because they are the scientists."

MacDonald is a civil engineer with no formal training in natural sciences.

Decisions to reduce federal protection for the Rocky Mountain jumping mouse, a Western bird known as the "mosquito king" and other threatened creatures will be reconsidered after alleged improper meddling by MacDonald.

MacDonald's resignation from the post of deputy assistant secretary overseeing Fish and Wildlife and the National Park Service was announced in May. Among the eight decisions to be reviewed, two involve the Preble's meadow jumping mouse. One was a 2005 proposal to remove the 9-inch mouse, named for its ability to leap twice its length and pivot midair, from the government's endangered species list. The second was a 2003 decision about the amount of acreage that should be protected to help the mouse recover.

Other species covered by Hall's order are the Southwestern willow flycatcher, white-tailed prairie dog, arroyo toad, California red-legged frog, Canada lynx and 12 species of Hawaiian picture-wing flies.

Hall said he ordered the reviews based on the recommendations of his regional directors, whom he had asked to study MacDonald's decisions.

"It's a blemish, I believe, on the scientific integrity of the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior, so we're going to place a pretty high priority on trying to get those done," he said.

"We wouldn't be doing them if we didn't at least suspect that the decision will be different. But I don't want to predetermine outcome."

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, praised the Interior Department for "stepping up to the plate to begin addressing the 'politics trumps science' ploy endemic throughout this administration."

His committee held a hearing on MacDonald's actions shortly after her resignation was announced.

"What we have learned to date raises concerns about political tinkering with science that has affected perhaps 100 endangered species-related decisions -- and goodness knows what else -- that deserve further scrutiny," Rahall said Friday.

Environmentalists noted that Hall was agreeing to review only about a third of the cases in which misconduct by MacDonald was alleged.

"While we welcome the revisiting of decisions where political interference has been documented, the list of species under consideration is neither comprehensive nor exhaustive," said Francesca Grifo, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' integrity program.

"The real culprit here is not a renegade political appointee," Grifo said. "The real culprit is a process where decisions are made behind closed doors."

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and as defined under the provisions of "fair use", any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment for non-profit research and for educational use by our membership.