JoseCuervo
New member
Hmmm... The plot thickens, as the upstream Senators call for an investigation into Dubya's Dumping of Scientists on the Upper Missouri.
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Senators eye probe of Missouri River scientists’ firing
Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Democratic lawmakers from three upper Missouri River states are calling for an investigation into the Bush administration’s decision to replace a team of scientists in charge of evaluating Missouri River management.
The lawmakers, led by Sens. Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson of South Dakota, said they want to know the reason for replacing the old team, which ruled in 2000 that management by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not follow the Endangered Species Act.
Bush criticized that decision during his presidential campaign.
Critics of the administration’s latest decision say the new team could produce an opinion that allows the corps to continue its current policies, which are widely seen as favoring downstream barge and farm interests and Bush ally Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri.
“That decision does not make very much sense on its face,” Daschle spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said. “It seems, on the surface, to be motivated more by politics.”
Daschle and Johnson called for the inspector general at the U.S. Interior Department to investigate last week’s replacement of the team of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists.
They were joined by four other Democrats from upper Missouri River states: Sens. Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Max Baucus of Montana and Rep. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota.
Interior Department spokesman Jeff Fleming said the department would go along with any investigation. But he said the new team would be capable and would base its decision on science, not politics.
Critics have not challenged the new team’s credentials, but the timing of the decision, which comes after years of work by the old team. The move comes shortly before the corps plans to revise its master manual. The manual will dictate river management for years to come and has been the subject of fierce debate among upper- and lower-basin interests and environmentalists.
Endangered species advocates want river flows to follow a more natural pattern. Upper-basin interests want flows that would benefit recreational fishing. Lower-basin interests want flows that would benefit downstream barge traffic.
A Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman said the move was timed to coincide with a new round of consultation with the corps, set to begin soon.
“We don’t think there’s anything wrong with the timing at all,” said spokesman Hugh Vickery. “This is a management decision about how to deal with this particular expedited time frame on a highly complex issue.”
The new group of biologists will be a “SWAT team,” a group of scientists experienced in making high-profile decisions, Fleming said. It will be led by Dale Hall, who runs the wildlife agency’s southwest regional office, and Robyn Thorson, who runs the Great Lakes office.
Hall, a biologist, has worked on some of the nation’s most contentious endangered species cases, including the northern spotted owl, fish in the Klamath River basin in Oregon and California and the silvery minnow in the Rio Grande River. Thorson is a lawyer and formerly worked on public and congressional affairs at the wildlife agency.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Senators eye probe of Missouri River scientists’ firing
Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Democratic lawmakers from three upper Missouri River states are calling for an investigation into the Bush administration’s decision to replace a team of scientists in charge of evaluating Missouri River management.
The lawmakers, led by Sens. Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson of South Dakota, said they want to know the reason for replacing the old team, which ruled in 2000 that management by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not follow the Endangered Species Act.
Bush criticized that decision during his presidential campaign.
Critics of the administration’s latest decision say the new team could produce an opinion that allows the corps to continue its current policies, which are widely seen as favoring downstream barge and farm interests and Bush ally Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri.
“That decision does not make very much sense on its face,” Daschle spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said. “It seems, on the surface, to be motivated more by politics.”
Daschle and Johnson called for the inspector general at the U.S. Interior Department to investigate last week’s replacement of the team of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists.
They were joined by four other Democrats from upper Missouri River states: Sens. Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Max Baucus of Montana and Rep. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota.
Interior Department spokesman Jeff Fleming said the department would go along with any investigation. But he said the new team would be capable and would base its decision on science, not politics.
Critics have not challenged the new team’s credentials, but the timing of the decision, which comes after years of work by the old team. The move comes shortly before the corps plans to revise its master manual. The manual will dictate river management for years to come and has been the subject of fierce debate among upper- and lower-basin interests and environmentalists.
Endangered species advocates want river flows to follow a more natural pattern. Upper-basin interests want flows that would benefit recreational fishing. Lower-basin interests want flows that would benefit downstream barge traffic.
A Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman said the move was timed to coincide with a new round of consultation with the corps, set to begin soon.
“We don’t think there’s anything wrong with the timing at all,” said spokesman Hugh Vickery. “This is a management decision about how to deal with this particular expedited time frame on a highly complex issue.”
The new group of biologists will be a “SWAT team,” a group of scientists experienced in making high-profile decisions, Fleming said. It will be led by Dale Hall, who runs the wildlife agency’s southwest regional office, and Robyn Thorson, who runs the Great Lakes office.
Hall, a biologist, has worked on some of the nation’s most contentious endangered species cases, including the northern spotted owl, fish in the Klamath River basin in Oregon and California and the silvery minnow in the Rio Grande River. Thorson is a lawyer and formerly worked on public and congressional affairs at the wildlife agency.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
