A Fishy Ultimatum

A while back I wrote a piece detailing the Bush administration's effort to loosen environmental restrictions by declaring salmon in hatcheries should be included in the count that determines their status on the endangered species list.

At the time I wondered how Bush Co. could possibly get away with something as preposterous. Theoretically there are teams of science advisors, specializing in all kinds of different areas and conducting study after study in their field, all with the intent of informing policy decisions. Now I know.

The whole article is telling (and sadly, not at all surprising), but what specifically caught my attention and made me think of the piece I had written on salmon counts was the following:

Robert Paine, an ecologist at the University of Washington who chaired an advisory panel on endangered salmon and trout, said his team was warned by the government to remove facts that undermined policy.

"We were told to strip out specific scientific recommendations or see our report end up in a drawer," Paine said.

The report includes accusations of administration interference on strip mining, drug approvals and protection of endangered species.

*This article is a double post.