US reverses endangered species rulings

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US reverses endangered species rulings By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press

Writer

Tue Nov 27, 6:25 PM ET

 

 

 

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday reversed seven

rulings that denied endangered species increased protection, after an

investigation found the actions were tainted by political pressure from a former

senior Interior Department official.

 

 

 

In a letter to Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., the agency acknowledged that the

actions had been " inappropriately influenced " and that " revising the seven

identified decisions is supported by scientific evidence and the proper legal

standards. " The reversal affects the protection for species including the

white-tailed prairie dog, the Preble's meadow jumping mouse and the Canada lynx.

 

The rulings came under scrutiny last spring after an Interior Department

inspector general concluded that agency scientists were being pressured to alter

their findings on endangered species by Julie MacDonald, then a deputy assistant

secretary overseeing the Fish and Wildlife Service.

 

MacDonald resigned her position last May.

 

Rahall in a statement said that MacDonald, who was a civil engineer, " should

never have been allowed near the endangered species program. " He called

MacDonald's involvement in species protection cases over her three-year tenure

as an example of " this administration's penchant for torpedoing science. "

 

Acting Fish and Wildlife Director Kenneth Stansell wrote Rahall that the cases

were reviewed " after questions were raised about the integrity of scientific

information used and whether the decisions were made consistent with the

appropriate legal standards. "

 

He did not refer to MacDonald specifically.

 

Francesca Grifo of the Union of Concerned Scientists said the acknowledgment of

seven instances of wrongdoing " does not begin to plumb the depths of what's

wrong " at the wildlife agency and its implementation of the Endangered Species

Act.

 

There are at least 30 cases " where we have evidence of interference " over the

last seven years, maintained Grifo, director of the group's scientific integrity

program.

 

Problems were found in seven of the eight cases, taken up for review after

MacDonald's resignation.

 

The wildlife agency said it will reconsider a petition to list as endangered the

white-tailed prairie dog. The petition had been denied, but the agency said

after its investigation " the Service believes this decision should be

reconsidered. "

 

It also said it will examine the continued listing of the Preble's meadow

jumping mouse, as well as a separate ruling that had been made concerning the

mouse's critical habitat. The agency decision to take the mouse from under the

protection of the Endangered Species Act was questioned after MacDonald's

involvement became known.

 

Four other cases being reconsidered involved declarations of critical habitat

for the Canada lynx, the Hawaiian picture-wing fly, the Arroyo toad, and the

California red-legged frog.

 

The agency said it did not find any scientific evidence to warrant changes in

another questioned critical habitat decision involving the Southwestern willow

flycatcher, saying it was " scientifically supportable. "

 

MacDonald resigned in May after the Interior Department's inspector general

rebuked her for pressuring wildfire agency scientists to alter their findings

about endangered species and leaking information about species decisions to

industry officials. The IG found that she had broken federal rules by those

actions.

 

In her three years on the job, MacDonald also was heavily involved in delisting

the Sacramento splittail, a fish found only in California's Central Valley where

she owned an 80-acre farm on which the fish live.

 

 

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

Confucius