Interior Dept. to Probe White House Influence on Water Policy

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Interior Dept. to Probe White House Influence on Water Policy

 

 

>

> Interior Dept. to Probe Water Policy

> Fri Sep 5,11:17 PM ET

> By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer

>

> WASHINGTON - The inspector general at the Interior Department will look

> into possible political interference by the White House in developing

water

> policy in the Klamath River Basin in the Northwest.

>

> The inquiry follows the disclosure that President Bush

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> sites)'s top political adviser, Karl Rove, briefed dozens of political

> appointees at the Interior Department more than a year and a half ago

about

> diverting water from the Klamath River in Oregon to irrigate farms.

>

> Sen. John Kerry

>

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> record) of Massachusetts, a Democratic presidential candidate, disclosed

> the inspector general's plans on Friday.

>

> Last September, 33,000 chinook salmon died in the Klamath River in

northern

> California. The California Department of Fish and Game laid much of the

> blame on low flows controlled by the federal government for creating

> conditions that allowed a fatal gill rot disease to spread through the

fish.

>

> A report on the fish kill by the Interior Department's U.S. Fish and

> Wildlife Service has not been released.

>

> Kerry had asked for the IG investigation after a story about Rove's

meeting

> with the political appointees appeared in The Wall Street Journal.

>

> Rove's briefing of Interior's political appointees in January 2002 took

> place following a trip by Bush and Rove to Oregon, where they focused on

> the Klamath water issue. Rove made a second trip to Oregon before the

> department decided to increase the water flow to farms.

>

> Seeking to help their farm constituencies, Republican leaders in the

> Northwest wanted to divert water to farmers.

>

> In an Aug. 28 letter to Kerry, the inspector general's office said that it

> will look into whether decision-making on water policy in the Klamath

River

> Basin deviated from normal practices, with special attention to any

> evidence of political interference or suppression of data.

>

> If any evidence of political interference is found, " we have no authority

> over members of the White House staff and therefore would immediately

> notify the Department of Justice

>

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> sites), Office of Public Integrity, " said the letter from Interior IG Earl

> Devaney.

>

> Decisions made by the Interior Department were based on the best available

> science from the National Academy of Sciences

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> sites), said Interior spokesman Mark Pfeifle. He said Interior is focused

> on providing water for people who live and work in the Klamath Basin,

> including farmers, fishermen and tribes, while also restoring the basin's

> ecosystem.

>

> Kerry called the probe a positive step, saying he is concerned that

> political pressure from the White House may have intimidated staff and

> influenced policy.

>

> Kerry says the Bush administration acted as if agencies like the Interior

> Department are " a division of the Republican National Committee

>

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> sites). "

>

> Pfeifle said candidates on the campaign trail " seem only focused on

> partisan sniping. "

>

> White House spokeswoman Ashley Snee has said it is " entirely appropriate "

> for members of the president's staff to occasionally provide updates on

the

> president's accomplishments and agenda.

>

> Snee has said the president established a Cabinet-level working group on

> Klamath that is committed to sustainable agriculture and jobs, improved

> water quality and stronger fish populations.

>

> Steve Pedery of the conservation group WaterWatch said that the Bush

> administration's approach is to pick one interest politically favorable to

> its goals and say, " You get the water. " Pedery said the solution should be

> to try to bring demand back into balance with supply " so everybody can get

> a fair share. "

>

> The Interior Department's Pfeifle, who attended Rove's January 2002

> meeting at a weekend retreat in West Virginia, has said the Klamath water

> diversion issue took up " probably 30 seconds to a minute " of a 25-minute

> presentation to department political appointees.

>

> Pfeifle has said other matters touched on in Rove's presentation included

> having a Hispanic media coordinator, reaching out to suburbanites on

> environmental issues and outreach to segments of organized labor that

> support oil and gas drilling in the Alaskan wilderness.

>

>

>

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