There's a good thorough account in today's N.Y. Times on the Bush administration's tendencies to dirty up the science by imposing partisan litmus tests on scientists selected for advisory committees and by picking and choosing science (or, in some case, non-scientific economics analyses) depending on the deregulatory outcome desired.

A fourth TRAC report released Monday tracks enforcement of wildlife protection laws under the Bush administration. As it turns out, "enforcement of the federal laws designed to protect migratory birds, endangered species, marine mammals and other kinds of wild life has slumped during the Bush Administration, according to authoritative Justice Department data." Filings of felony charges for violations of wildlife protection laws fell by 20 percent during the Bush years and filings of misdemeanors fell by 40 percent. The trend in legal filings varied depending on the statute.

The administration has been replying to critics of the attack on regulatory policy that its choices are being proved right, because things are getting better on the job and in the environment. Reports suggest that the trends may not necessarily back the administration's claims about its policy choices.

Mountaintop removal mining -- blasting off the tops of mountains in order to remove the coal underneath, and then dumping the mountaintops into the valleys and waterways below -- has been called "[o]ne of the greatest environmental and human rights catastrophes in American history." As the public has become aware of the ecological devastation happening in the ancient Appalachian mountains, the mining companies have wised up and applied the art of PR spin.