Political Interference with Endangered Species

Political Interference with Endangered Species

May 2007 - Bush administration officials at the 
Interior Department have repeatedly manipulated science in order to weaken 
protections for endangered species, former agency officials and 
environmentalists told the House Resources Committee Wednesday. 
The hearing prompted a key Democrat to call for the resignation of the 
department's deputy secretary, who endured several hours of heated 
questioning from the committee. 
"Under your leadership we have got negligence, incompetence and political 
hackery," Representative Jay Inslee, a Washington Democrat, told Interior 
Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett. "It would be helpful to have your 
resignation because you refuse to recognize how sick this situation is," 

Congressman Jay Inslee has represented the northeastern Seattle area since 
1999. 
The committee held the oversight hearing in the wake of the resignation of 
Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald – a recent Interior Department 
inspector general report found MacDonald pressured federal wildlife 
scientists and leaked confidential information on species decisions to 
industry and private property groups. 
The report detailed interference by MacDonald with scientific reports on a 
slew of endangered and threatened species, including sage grouse, prairie 
dogs, the California tiger salamander and Delta smelt fish. MacDonald 
repeatedly pressed scientists to downplay risks to species and in several 
instances simply ignored their findings. 
MacDonald's "reign of terror" may have ended, said Committee Chairman Nick 
Rahall, a West Virginia Democrat, but "she left behind a lot of baggage." 
House Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall has represented southern 
West Virginia in Congress since 1977. 
Rahall and other Democrats on the committee called on the administration 
to commit to reviewing decisions influenced by MacDonald. 
"You owe it not just to your employees and not just to us, but to the 
country to do everything you can to restore the environment of good 
science there," said Russ Holt, a New Jersey Democrat. "And that would 
include making sure that any errors in science, any manipulation of 
science that occurred for any reason are corrected." 
Scarlett declined to commit to such action. 
Lynn Scarlett has been deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior 
since November 2005. 
The administration is responding to the concerns by putting in place some 
80 new ethics guidelines and setting up an accountability board, she said. 

"We do not promote, tolerate or support the suppression of scientific 
information," Scarlett told the panel. "Where there is evidence of 
scientific manipulation, we will act upon it." 
"We have been over these last months assuring what I believe is a process 
of integrity," Scarlett said, adding that MacDonald "strived to do what 
she thought was her duty." 
That drew a sharp rebuke from California Democrat George Miller. 
Congressman George Miller of California has represented San Francisco's 
East Bay area since 1975. 
"Give me a break," Miller said. "If you believe that then we are in very 
serous trouble here and the underpinnings of the integrity of this 
department are in very serious trouble." 
MacDonald's actions have created "a serious, serious ethical and legal 
problem for the department," Miller said. 
Federal judges have already rejected decisions influenced by MacDonald, 
including a move to downgrade protections for the endangered Santa Barbara 
and Sonoma salamanders. 
Critics argue the administration appears to have not just tolerated, but 
has encouraged MacDonald's actions as part of a larger effort to ignore 
the requirements of the Endangered Species Act. 
"[This] is not some rogue employee that has run countercurrent to this 
administration and this leadership," Inslee told Scarlett. "And you have 
shown a stunning lack of awareness of that or willingness to deal with 
this situation." 
Jamie Rappaport Clark, who served as the director of the Fish and Wildlife 
Service during the Clinton administration, called the political 
interference of the Bush administration "unprecedented." 
Biologist Jamie Rappaport Clark, former director fo the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, now serves as executive vice president of the 
conservation group Defenders of Wildlife. 
"No one is arguing that science alone should dictate policy," Clark told 
the panel. "Science is the foundation on which sound policy decisions 
depend. But when political interference tries to force a scientific 
process towards a particular answer, that foundation is undermined and 
ultimately you end up making very bad policy decisions." 
The department's code of science ethics contains "a glaring omission," 
Clark said. 
"Political appointees were specifically excluded," Clark said. "If you 
create this wall for career employees to behave one way and political 
appointees to behave another then it is ripe for the problems that we are 
seeing now." 
Rahall further criticized the administration for draft regulations, leaked 
last month to the press, which would reduce the federal government's 
responsibility to protect endangered species by making regulatory changes 
to implementation of the Endangered Species Act. 
The Bush administration has not provided Congress with a copy of the 
draft, said Rahall, who called it "evidence of a systematic effort" to 
undermine the law and species protection. 
"This is an agency that seems focused on one goal – weakening the law by 
administrative fiat and it is doing much of that work in the shadows, 
shrouded from public view," Rahall said. 
Scarlett defended the administration's commitment to protecting endangered 
species and said it is interested in improving the law. 
The summer run of Lake Sammamish Kokanee salmon in Washington state is 
believed to have gone extinct this year. 
The draft regulations are still being developed and defended, she added, 
and the agency held 25 listening sessions across the country to hear ideas 
about how to revise implementation of the statute and how to encourage 
greater cooperation with states and private property owners. 
"Our fundamental and central goal is to enhance recovery and to do so by 
enhancing the opportunity for cooperative conservation partnerships," she 
said. 
The most controversial part of the draft – a revision of how the agency 
determines risks to a species – has been removed, Scarlett said. 
Republicans on the committee expressed support for regulatory changes to 
the Endangered Species Act, arguing that the 34 year old law is poorly 
crafted and does little but breed litigation. 
The law has been used "to smash the dreams of millions of Americans … and 
to disturb the lives of millions of property owners," said Idaho 
Republican Bill Sali. 
"The Act has been implemented and used by groups not to try and preserve 
species but to impede any kind of development or growth and that is the 
unfortunate thing," added Representative Don Young, an Alaska Republican. 
Congressman Don Young has served as Alaska's only Representative in the 
House since 1973. 
The law encourages landowners to "shut up and shovel" rather than work to 
protect species, Young said. 
"This committee, instead of just pointing the finger at the 
administration, should, come up with some alternatives," Young told 
colleagues. "We must save the species if that is what we are seeking to do 
but let's not forget that we have the human factor involved also." 
But Jeff Ruch, an attorney who serves as executive director of Public 
Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said the administration's 
implementation of the law is a major reason for much of the litigation 
related to endangered species. 
Jeff Ruch is executive director of Public Employees for Environmental 
Responsibility, a national association of employees in natural resources 
agencies. 
The reason that environmental groups "consistently win these suits is 
because the agency's own information has been manipulated," he said. 
Ruch added that his organization has found manipulation of science 
"routine and widespread." 
"Julie MacDonald was not a lone rogue," Ruch told the panel. "She was 
merely following orders to keep the administration's friends comfortable." 
   

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