WP: Bush Interior Department Appointee Said to Reject Advice on Endangered Species

[DeepModem Mom]

Bush Appointee Said to Reject Advice on Endangered Species
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 30, 2006; Page A03


(Courtesy Of T. Zukoski)
White-tailed prarie dog

A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has rejected staff scientists' recommendations to protect imperiled animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act at least six times in the past three years, documents show.

In addition, staff complaints that their scientific findings were frequently overruled or disparaged at the behest of landowners or industry have led the agency's inspector general to look into the role of Julie MacDonald, who has been deputy assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife and parks since 2004, in decisions on protecting endangered species.

The documents show that MacDonald has repeatedly refused to go along with staff reports concluding that species such as the white-tailed prairie dog and the Gunnison sage grouse are at risk of extinction. Career officials and scientists urged the department to identify the species as either threatened or endangered.

Overall, President Bush's appointees have added far fewer species to the protected list than did the administrations of either Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush, according to the advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity. As of now, the administration has listed 56 species under the Endangered Species Act, for a rate of about 10 a year. Under Clinton, officials listed 512 species, or 64 a year, and under George H.W. Bush, the department listed 234, or 59 a year.

The dispute is the latest in a series of controversies in which government officials and outside scientists have accused the Bush administration of overriding or setting aside scientific findings that clashed with its political agenda on such issues as global warming, the Plan B emergency contraceptive and stem cell research....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/29/AR2006102900776.html

[rodeodance]

1. i am so sooooo SICK of this administration I>>>>>>>>>.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Linking this to global warming, Plan B, stem cell --

we MUST rid ourselves of these people.

[IChing]

3. After so many died and got hurt in the coal mines because of neglect.

I know this news is old to some but my grandfather was a coal miner and died of lung disease, which fits into how they care about humans, this planet or their so called spiritual consciousness.

BREAKING: Bush Recess-Appoints Former Coal Exec as Mine Safety Chief

President Bush just put former coal industry executive Richard Stickler in charge of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)—a job the U.S. Senate twice refused to grant him. Since Bush couldn’t get his appointment through Congress, he gave Stickler a “recess appointment” while members of Congress are out of town.


The Senate sent Stickler’s nomination back to the White House twice because of his troubling mine safety record—the mines he managed from 1989 to 1996 incurred injury rates double the national average.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/10/19/breaking-bush-recess-appoints-former-coal-exec-as-mine-safety-chief/

[DeepModem Mom]

4. I remember that recent story. Same thing: no regard for life...

yet they preach that that's what they're all about. I'm sorry for your family's loss of a grandfather.

[IChing]

5. No he smoked 2 packs a day and lived to be 82

But had breathing problem since I knew him,


In my father's book, that just got published, who is 90,
it showed a picture of a sod house my grandfather and his family lived in on the plains.
When he died, he told me he came from that,
and no one could fly and the he got to see a man walk on the moon.

He always fought for the unions though, his bad lung was a combination of many corporations.

[Lindacooks]

6. Yeah, those shitheads reject ANY advice that doesn't fall

within their grand scheme to bankrupt and ruin the world at the same time.

[brentspeak]

7. Read some of these U.S. govt. scientist responses to a recent survey

conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists:

http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/scientific_integrity/FWS_Selected_Essays_1.pdf

"R1
Removal of Julie McDonald from Dept of Interior. I have never before seen the boldness of intimidation demonstrated by a single political appointee. She has modified the behavior of the entire agency.
I believe there should be a thorough investigation of her abuse of discretionary authority and modification of science information provided in FWS documents.
............................................
"R1
I have been through the reversal of two listing decisions due to political pressure. Science was ignored- and worse manipulated to build a bogus set of rationale for reversal of these listing decisions/ I have very little hope for any improvement- and I fear that the current trend of political meddling will only worsen in the next four years."
............................................
"R7
There is a culture of fear of retaliation in mid-level management. If the manager were to speak out for resources, they fear loss of jobs or funding for their programs. (So they go into “duck&cover” mode and wait for the politics to change.)"

[Supersedeas]

8. Politics before science

[Tanuki]

9. Another unqualified hack appointed on the basis of ideology

instead of competence by this loathesome misadministration. And one more reason to pray that we take back the House next week:

"Amid the complaints, Interior officials have privately contacted the ranking Democrat on the House Resources Committee, Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (W.Va.), who plans to hold oversight hearings into the matter if his party retakes the majority in next month's elections."

[MasonJar]

10. These awful people are a blight on the world; they must be sent

to the Hague asap.