Just one more instance of BushCo f**king with the environment to protect business interests...

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I'll link to some of the primary information in a minute, but in a nutshell, Ms. MacDonald questioned reliance on certain scientific documents, urged consideration of unpublished timber industry data, and ultimately rewrote the status review's conclusion that the murrelets in Washington, Oregon, and California deserved protection. The day before the final status review was released, FWS changed its "yes" to a "no" on the question "Does the original listing meet the DPS policy with regards to the Discreteness and Significance elements of the DPS policy?"

In other words, where agency scientists had determined that the murrelets in the Northwest are a "distinct population segment," that finding was turned on its head at the last minute.

Kristen Boyles immediately wrote to demand that the FWS withdraw the status review and investigate Ms. MacDonald's role in the murrelet matter. We'll let you know what happens.

It is hardly news that Bush administration officials have avoided, evaded, flouted, and violated environmental laws relentlessly for nearly seven years. What's worth noting is that the practice continues even in the face of overwhelming public disapproval. And no one yet knows the full extent of this corruption of law and science. We'll be cleaning up messes well into the next administration no matter who the next president may be.
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