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House Natural Resources Committee Calls on Interior Department to Fix Tainted Decisions

Committee members press Deputy Secretary Scarlett for action, Interior evades

Several members of the House Natural Resources Committee today urged Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne to reexamine all the recent endangered species decisions where political interference was a factor. These decisions include the denial of protection to several regional wildlife species, including white-tailed prairie dog, Gunnison sage grouse, and Gunnison's prairie dog.

U.S. Representatives Peter DeFazio (D-OR), George Miller (D-CA), and others on the House Natural Resources Committee called on the Department of the Interior to reexamine several recent endangered species decisions at a committee hearing today.

This request echoes the recommendations made by experts who testified before the committee today as well as multiple regional conservation groups.

Committee members and experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility urged the Department of the Interior to immediately reevaluate the endangered species decisions where political interference has been documented.

Regional conservation groups have specifically highlighted the decisions to deny Endangered Species Act protection to the white-tailed prairie dog, Gunnison sage grouse, and Gunnison’s prairie dog as local examples of tainted decisions that must be revisited.

When asked directly by members of the House Natural Resources Committee whether the Interior Department planned to reexamine the decisions affected by political manipulation, Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett evaded the question.

“Everyone but the political appointees in the Interior Department sees what needs to be done here,” said Josh Pollock, Conservation Director at Center for Native Ecosystems.  “The affected decisions should be fixed now, and not after years of lawsuits and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars wasted.”

Though some of the allegations of political interference in the Interior Department first came to light through an investigation of former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald, several sources at today’s hearing emphasized that the problem extends beyond her.

Dr. Fancesca Grifo of the Union of Concerned Scientists estimated there were at least 30 cases where political interference in endangered species decisions had been uncovered and less than half of those implicated Julie MacDonald.

House committee member Jay Inslee (D-WA) noted during the hearing that Julie MacDonald “was not a rogue employee” and that the problem of political interference in the department was bigger than one person.

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