Interior Department, Meet Keystone Kops

[xchrom]

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/10/bizarre-interior-department-polar-bear-investigation-report-charles-monnett



The long, strange case of a government scientist under investigation for alleged malfeasance appears to be over, but the official report on his case, if anything, makes the whole thing even more bizarre.

In July 2011, we told you about Charles Monnett, a wildlife biologist with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in Alaska who was placed on administrative leave and investigated by the Interior Department's inspector general. Monnett had coauthored a 2006 paper in the journal Polar Biology that documented four dead polar bears in the Beaufort Sea in 2004, projecting that declining sea ice might cause more bears to die in the future. The paper was later cited in efforts to get the polar bear protected as an endangered species. Needless to say, it was rather unexpected when the IG's investigators came after Monnett for vague "integrity issues" five years after the paper was published.

The resulting report, released on Friday, reveals that the IG was investigating accusations lodged against Monnett by "a career US Department of the Interior (DOI) employee." According to this "confidential complainant," Monnett had released government emails to unauthorized outsiders, fudged his polar bear report, and dealt improperly with a government contractor.

Regarding the email charge, the report rehashed a incident that took place in 2007, when the BOEM—which used to be called the Minerals Management Service—was evaluating Shell's exploratory drilling plan for the Arctic. At the time, agency scientists leaked emails raising concerns about the environmental review of the plan and showing that the Bush administration wanted internal disputes over the review kept quiet. It turned out that Monnett was the source for at least some of those emails. But the Interior Department has known that since 2008, and decided against disciplining Monnett. Only last week, in response to this IG's report, did BOEM issue Monnett a written reprimand, which notes that the leaked emails were used later in court cases against the drilling plan.

[pscot]

1. Retaliation, for stepping on

someone's pro-drilling agenda. From the article cited:

It is the subtext of the IG's report that illuminates what's really going on here: Whoever lodged the original complaint has a bone to pick with Monnett over his polar bear study, his "global warming agenda," and his whistle-blowing over Shell's drilling plans. After all, the main point of controversy over the polar bear's endangered status is that efforts to protect bear habitat might interfere with drilling. And if we acknowledge that climate change caused by burning all that oil and gas is melting the Arctic, then that, too, is bad for oil and gas interests.

[Nihil]

2. ^ What he said ^

Retaliation (+ bonus of intimidation pour encourager les autres).

Sadly, there are a lot of powerful people with a pro-drilling agenda ... and their only
differences are in scale & timescale not in a "yes or no" manner.

The only "No" voices are 'little people' protesting in "Free-speech zones" and
being ignored by the "deciders".