AP: Concerns raised over business influence at Interior

[question everything]

Concerns raised over business influence at Interior

By Don Thompson
ASSOCIATED PRESS

December 19, 2004

SACRAMENTO – A series of telephone calls and e-mails related to two high-profile environmental decisions in California has prompted criticism that business interests may be gaining too much influence over the U.S. Interior Department.

According to court records, Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald tried to change scientific recommendations related to protecting wetland species and endangered fish.

In the first instance, the correspondence was between MacDonald, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service managers and the California Farm Bureau Federation in April. A month later, the federation used the information to back a federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., seeking to overturn the service's decision continuing protection for the Delta smelt.

(snip)

Environmental groups say such contacts suggest top-level administrators at the nation's land management agencies care more about business interests than the wildlife they're assigned to protect.

More..

Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041219/news_1n19enviro.html

[NVMojo]

1. they just figured this out? Come to Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, Utah

and see who is in bed with corporations ...the Dept. of Interior, BLM, US Forest Service ...I could go on but no one listens until it creeps up to their own doorsteps anymore....

[TahitiNut]

2. "MAY be gaining too much influence"???

Good grief! The Interior Department is nothing BUT pandering to business interests ... from oil to coal to lumber to cattle to snowmobiles, it's totally driven by profiteering.

[snippy]

3. This is what happens when people vote republican.

More people need to understand the consequences of their votes.

[GOPFighter]

4. I'm a federal employee living in DC

It's sickening to see how much the private sector has already taken over the federal governmnet. They want to privatize everything. Most new employees work for private contractors, the federal retirement system has already been privatized (similar to what Bush wants to do to Social Security), the Smithsonian museums are largely reliant on funding from corporations (who then get their name and/or logo plastered everywhere), etc.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. The issue of denial of science is part of this, too -- not listening...

to scientific experts in various fields, but going with whatever will make a buck for supporters of the cabal.