In a May 9 hearing, the House Committee on Natural Resources heard witnesses discuss the extent to which Interior Department officials have manipulated scientific assessments when implementing the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The hearing came on the heels of the resignation of a top-ranking official and the release of a departmental investigation that found rules violations and intimidation of agency scientists.

Committee Chair Nick J. Rahall, II, (D-WV) said in his opening remarks that a range of actions taken by Interior in its implementation of ESA makes it clear "This is an agency that seems focused on one goal — weakening the law by Administrative fiat and it is doing much of that work in the shadows, shrouded from public view." He accused department officials of not cooperating with the committee, providing non-public information to private companies, and attempting to change ESA regulations behind closed doors. The hearing revealed agency practices that exhibit systematic efforts to undermine the information used to make ESA-related determinations.

Interior's Office of Inspector General investigated allegations against former deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks Julie A. MacDonald that she intimidated staff and changed the scientific information agency scientists developed for decisions about listing or delisting threatened or endangered species. The report was released to Congress the week of March 26 and confirmed MacDonald's involvement in "editing, commenting on, and reshaping the Endangered Species Program's scientific reports from the field." MacDonald's background is in engineering and management, not biology or other natural sciences. MacDonald resigned her position April 30.

According to the investigation, MacDonald:

• extensively edited the Sage Grouse Risk Analysis;
• bypassed managers to bully field personnel "into producing documents" that suited her political philosophy;
• determined that the cost of designating an area as critical habitat was unacceptable and ordered a report rewritten to reflect her opinion;
• substituted "alternative outside sources" of science for staff scientists' sources and then declared the substitution "best practices"; and
• aggregated three separate species listings of salamander into one in order to change the species designation from endangered to threatened.

The report concludes MacDonald did nothing illegal, but that she violated the Code of Federal Regulations regarding disclosure of nonpublic information and the appearance of preferential treatment. Specifically, she disclosed information to the California Farm Bureau Federation and the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights group that often challenges agency endangered species decisions.

In her written testimony, Lynn Scarlett, Deputy Interior Secretary, testified that Interior is committed to scientific integrity, transparency and quality. Yet her testimony emphasized the voluntary nature of many of the programs and grants used in the endangered species program and the de-emphasis on listing species, which is often the focus of the extensive litigation the program regularly faces. She also downplayed the proposed administrative changes to ESA regulations circulating within the agency, about which Rahall complained. According to a BNA story (subscription) describing the oral testimony, Scarlett defended MacDonald's editing actions. MacDonald's editing was only to "ensure quality of product," according to BNA's article.

Witnesses from the environmental community had a different view of Interior's approach to using science. For example, Union of Concerned Scientists' Francesca Grifo provided testimony about the extent to which U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) scientists had experienced political interference. A 2005 survey of FWS scientists working in field offices showed that 78 percent of respondents felt FWS was not effective in its habitat protection work, and 69 percent did not think it was effective in the recovery work for currently listed species. Almost two-thirds thought FWS was moving in the wrong direction.

Defenders of Wildlife executive vice president Jamie Rappaport Clark testified that the recovery programs Scarlett emphasized in her testimony were removed from the draft of the administrative rules changes. In addition, she noted:

The general theme of all the administrative rule changes we have seen from, or discussed with, the administration is a withdrawal of the Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA-Fisheries* from implementation of the Endangered Species Act. Having hamstrung the endangered species program by starving it of resources and injecting political considerations into its science, the administration's rewrite of the ESA rules now would have the Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA-Fisheries shed the responsibility entrusted to them by Congress on the basis that the agencies lack sufficient resources and expertise.

*National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service, which is also responsible for ESA implementation.