Report raps Interior official over leaks

[cal04]

Source: JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer

A government official broke federal rules and should face punishment for leaking information about endangered species to private groups, the Interior Department's watchdog said.

The department's deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks acknowledged releasing information that was not supposed to be made public to organizations such as the California Farm Bureau Federation and Pacific Legal Foundation, according to the agency's inspector general.

Environmentalists and other critics contend Julie MacDonald undermined federal endangered species protections. In the report by Earl Devaney, Interior Department officials describe MacDonald as a political appointee bent on manipulating science to fit her policy goals, which they said favor developers and industry.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070329/ap_on_go_ot/interior_scientists_4

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(snip)
Twice, according to the report, she sent internal Environmental Protection Agency documents to people whose e-mail addresses ended in chevrontexaco.com; ChevronTexaco was the name used after oil companies Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc. merged in 2001, though it was changed to Chevron in 2005.

[Kagemusha]

1. But leaking the identity of a covert CIA agent is A-OK.

Isn't that fun.

[Miss Chybil]

2. Leaking to Chevron Texaco. Nice... nt

"Twice, according to the report, she sent internal Environmental Protection Agency documents to people whose e-mail addresses ended in chevrontexaco.com; ChevronTexaco was the name used after oil companies Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc. merged in 2001, though it was changed to Chevron in 2005.

Devaney referred the matter to Interior Department officials for potential punishment. Kreisher said the report was under review and that officials would have no comment on a personnel issue.

MacDonald is a hydraulic engineer with a master's degree in management but no background in natural sciences. She joined the Bush administration in July 2002 as a senior adviser for fish, wildlife and parks. She was promoted to deputy assistant secretary in 2004.

"It's a travesty that a high-level political appointee with no training in biology is rewriting the conclusions of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists," said Melissa Waage, legislative director for the Center for Biological Diversity, an advocacy group."

[Eugene]

3. Wow! The corruption never stops at Bush & Co.

And the Bushies at Interior are some of the most corrupt of all.
Once again, they are out to help their corporate backers loot
the national trust.

It is interesting how the ever secretive Bush administration
is happy to leak information that suits it.

[rodeodance]

4. she sounds like a mole that has been planted?

[rodeodance]

5. rec.

[rodeodance]

6. OHG---she has NO biology background!--a political APPOINTEE

MacDonald is a hydraulic engineer with a master's degree in management but no background in natural sciences. She joined the Bush administration in July 2002 as a senior adviser for fish, wildlife and parks. She was promoted to deputy assistant secretary in 2004.

"It's a travesty that a high-level political appointee with no training in biology is rewriting the conclusions of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists," said Melissa Waage, legislative director for the Center for Biological Diversity, an advocacy group.

[rodeodance]

7. read this---Concerned Scientists wanted her Removed in 05!

2005 USFWS Ecological Services SurveyFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Exposing interference at the department level (Julie MacDonald). ... and their special assistants (especially Julie MacDonald). ...
www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/jump.jsp?origID=pdf-982


2005 USFWS Ecological Services Survey
Selected Essays
This is a sample of some of the most compelling or representative answers from each region to the following survey question:
42. The integrity of the scientific work produced by USFWS Ecological Services could best be improved by:
The essay responses are sorted according to topic, in order of frequency. Each response is preceded by a code indicating the region of the particular respondent. Sixty-seven percent of survey respondents provided written responses.
REGION 1 (Pacific: CA, NV, ID, OR, WA, HI)
REGION 2 (Southwest: AZ, NM, TX, OK)
REGION 3 (Great Lakes – Big Rivers: MN, IA, IL, IN, WI, MI, OH, MO)
REGION 4 (Southeast: GA, AL, AR, FL, KY, LA, MS, TN, NC, SC, PR)
REGION 5 (Northeast: ME, DE, RI, NY, MD, NJ, WV, PA, VA, NH, MA, VT)
REGION 6 (Mountain-Prairie: CO, MT, KS, NE, ND, SD, UT, WY)
REGION 7 (Alaska)
I. Removing politics/political influence over scientific decisions
(Mentioned by 32% of all survey respondents)
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.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Interior Department appointee altered reports on wildlife

March 29, 2007, 9:21PM
Interior Department appointee altered reports on wildlife
Inquiry finds she tried to minimize impact of rulings on landowners

By JULIET EILPERIN
Washington Post

WASHINGTON — A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department repeatedly has altered scientific field reports to minimize protections for imperiled species and disclosed confidential information to private groups seeking to affect policy decisions, the department's Inspector General concluded.

The investigator's report on Julie MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks — which was triggered by an anonymous complaint from a Fish and Wildlife Service employee — said she frequently sought to reshape the agency's scientific reports to ease the impact of agency decisions on private landowners.
(snip)

The IG noted that MacDonald "admitted that her degree is in civil engineering and that she has no formal educational background in natural sciences" but nevertheless repeatedly instructed Fish and Wildlife scientists to change their recommendations on identifying "critical habitats," despite her lack of expertise.

At one point, according to Fish and Wildlife Services director Dale Hall, MacDonald tangled with field personnel over designating habitat for the endangered Southwest Willow Flycatcher, a bird whose range extends from Arizona to New Mexico and southern California. When scientists wrote that the bird had a "nesting range" of 2.1 miles, MacDonald told field personnel to change the number to 1.8 miles.

Hall, a wildlife biologist who told the IG he had had a "running battle" with MacDonald, said she did not want the range to extend to California because her husband had a ranch there.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/4673778.html