Endangered Species Act: politics endangers science

Kinda old news, not that it ever got it's 15 minutes of fame. oh yeah, but CNN can devote hours quizzing candidates about their *faith* which has fuck all to do with what? but heaven forbid they actually inform us of anything.
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original-es&t

Policy News –
June 4, 2007

Endangered Species Act: politics endangers science

A Congressional hearing investigates whether political goals have pushed science out of the Endangered Species Act.

On May 18, Americans celebrated the second annual Endangered Species Day to commemorate the recovery of species, such as the American bald eagle and the humpback whale. Yet the very law that helped these animals return from the brink of extinction has been threatened by what many see as the Bush Administration’s continued efforts to manipulate the scientific underpinnings of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Several problems came to light in April following an internal Department of the Interior (DOI) investigation. The former deputy assistant secretary at DOI, Julie MacDonald, was found guilty of altering scientific content in the agency’s documents. MacDonald was also found guilty of forcing scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to tweak their findings and of leaking confidential information to lobbyists for the California Farm Bureau federation and other industry groups. She resigned weeks after the public release of the investigation results.

In early May, the Democrats launched their own inquiry of the matter and called a congressional hearing before the House Committee on Natural Resources. Most of the witnesses at the hearing testified about MacDonald’s and other top DOI officials’ manipulation of scientific data. The hearing also focused on the Bush Administration’s renewed efforts to revise the ESA by rewriting regulations that guide the enforcement of the law.

“From changes in regulations to poorly developed legal reviews that have left the agency sorely vulnerable to attack in the courts, the evidence of a systematic effort to undermine the law and species protection is quite clear,” said Committee Chair Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), in his opening remarks. The agency was bent on “weakening the law by administrative fiat,” and doing so “in the shadows, shrouded from public view,” he added.
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complete article including links to other sources here