WildEarth Guardians

Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Conservationists to Interior Department: Fix Politically Tainted Decisions Now

As Congress investigates political interference in endangered species protection, Western wildlife slides toward extinction
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

Additional Contacts: Josh Pollock, Conservation Director, Center for Native Ecosystems, (303) 546-0214 Nicole Rosmarino, Ph.D., Conservation Director, WildEarth Guardians, (505) 988-9126x156 Mark Salvo, Director, Sagebrush Sea Campaign, (503) 757-4221

Denver - As the House Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing today to investigate the manipulation of science in endangered species management, conservation groups urged the Department of the Interior to immediately revisit many recent politically tainted decisions by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to deny protection to imperiled wildlife under the Endangered Species Act.

"We applaud Congress for pushing the Interior Department to fix its pervasive problem of political interference in endangered species science, but we can't forget the victims of this manipulation who are still on the path to extinction: the white-tailed prairie dog, Gunnison sage grouse, Gunnison's prairie dog, and others," said Josh Pollock, Conservation Director at Center for Native Ecosystems. "The decisions that denied them protection under the Endangered Species Act were corrupted and must be revisited immediately."

Several of the experts testifying at today's hearing highlighted solutions that the Interior Department must consider if it is going to fix the systemic problems that allowed political appointees such as former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald to repeatedly reverse the scientific findings of her staff. National groups such as the Union of Concerned Scientists echoed the sentiments of local conservation groups in urging the Interior Secretary to reevaluate the endangered species decisions where political interference has been documented.

"Secretary Kempthorne should immediately order new findings where political interference in endangered species decisions has been documented," said Nicole Rosmarino, Conservation Director of WildEarth Guardians. "The Secretary should also publicly examine all recent listing, critical habitat, and recovery decisions to determine the extent of political interference in the endangered species listing program," stated Rosmarino.

Some members of Congress have also called for reform within the Interior Department. Last week Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) put a hold on the confirmation of former Colorado state parks director Lyle Laverty for a position at Interior until Secretary Kempthorne "reassured" the Congress that the environment at the Interior Department is improved to prevent further cases of political tampering.

"The agency scientists who make expert decisions about endangered species management should be buffered from political manipulation," said Mark Salvo, Director of the Sagebrush Sea campaign. "The endangered plants and wildlife they work to protect cannot afford to be used as pawns by political appointees."

Among the solutions proposed by the Union of Concerned Scientists and others are greater transparency in the decision-making process for endangered species listing, critical habitat designation, and recovery planning; protection for the right of agency scientists to communicate their research results and give final review to public characterizations of their conclusions; and protection for whistleblowers, which is proposed in recent legislation that has passed the House and is now before the Senate. At the top of this list, say several local conservation groups, must also be the reexamination of the decisions to deny Endangered Species Act protections to several regional species.

"If the Interior Department went back and fixed these broken decisions now, they could save the taxpayers a lot of money and wasted time on litigation," said Pollock. "With 279 species on the candidate list awaiting protection and no new Endangered Species listings in a full year, the Bush administration has got a lot of catching up to do. Bush administration inaction has already pushed so many species towards extinction."