By Paul Koberstein
History is certain to judge the Bush years as a disaster for the nation's — and the planet's — environment. But as his second term winds down, it's worth noting that ancient forests in the Pacific Northwest are still standing, despite the administration's vigorous efforts to help timber companies cut them down, and thanks to countless citizens who stood in the way.
The administration's approach to nature has been driven by two myths: what's good for industry is good for the environment, and the extent of our resources is without limit. But there is much work to do. For the last eight years, Bush has been at war with the planet's complex and fragile life-sustaining systems in his rush to aid industry.
Aside from a last-gasp attempt to gut the house on his way out, Bush has lost his war on the environment. Witness the fact that the ancient forests are still standing, despite almost eight years of concerted efforts to liquidate them. A broad campaign to suppress science and intimidate scientists has been exposed, and administration officials have been forced to reverse several unlawful decisions. Many more decisions are under investigation by Congress, the courts and independent government watchdogs. The clock will soon run out, leaving behind a mangled mess that the next president should be able to fix ..
However, if the next president wants to avoid lasting damage, he must get on this right way, and he must do more than just dispel myths. He must also weed out Bush’s true believers from the bureaucracy, and identify language now embedded in rules and regulations that would undermine conservation — and delete it.
The next president must also contemplate how to restore wildlife and ecosystems damaged by Bush's assault and neglect, and avoid the catastrophic climate disruptions that he failed to address.
Bush was stopped by combatants whom the administration considered to be enemies. Citizens, communities, conservationists and scientists all helped to deliver a final, crushing blow.
Read more
The fallen lieutenant
Disgraced ex-Interior official Julie MacDonald ran broad
scheme to suppress science
In Bush's war against the environment, Julie MacDonald, a deputy assistant Interior secretary, cast herself as the loyal lieutenant who led his fierce campaign to blunt efforts to recover imperiled species in favor of more grazing, timber production and fossil fuel extraction across the country.
The manipulation and suppression of science “is rampant” throughout the process of listing and recovering endangered species, said Dr. Francesca T. Grifo, senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, at a congressional hearing in May 2008.
Bush allowed political appointees “to interfere with individual species decisions and propagate policies that reduce the role of science in endangered species decision making,” Grifo said.
MacDonald worked at Interior from 2002 to 2007, and during that time some 200 listing, delisting and critical habitat rules came across her desk. As a deputy assistant secretary at Interior, she oversaw fish, wildlife and parks, focusing on implementing Endangered Species Act, which requires agencies to base decisions on the “best available science.” As we’ll see, MacDonald often employed the “worst available politics” as her standard.
Read more
Truth and other casualties from the war on science
Where political meddling is routine,
and scientific integrity is discouraged,
how can you tell what to believe?
Julie MacDonald's shocking behavior creates a credibility problem for federal environmental agencies, and raises significant questions for the public. Who would believe anything that's been tainted with MacDonald's fingerprints? Who else has poisoned the science with politics? How can you tell what to believe?
No one understands this credibility gap better than the scientists who work for the government. The Bush administration seems, however, to be in denial. When asked about overwhelmingly negative comments in a recent survey scientists who for the EPA, agency spokesman Jonathan Shradar attributed some of the discontent to the “passion” scientists have toward their work, CNN reported. He dismissed the scientists' concern about the EPA's lack of scientific integrity.
More than half of 1,586 EPA staff scientists who responded online to a 44-question online survey reported they had experienced incidents of political interference in their work in the last five years, according to a Union of Concerned Scientists survey released in April 2008.
In the last three years, the Union of Concerned Scientists has surveyed three environmental agencies about questions of political inference and scientific integrity, including the EPA, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (part of the Department of Commerce) were the others. It has also surveyed federal climate scientists who work for a variety of agencies, including NOAA and NASA. Two other non-profit groups participated in the survey, the Government Accountability Project and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
By law, the work of all these agencies is supposed to be fueled by science, but under Bush, politicians have interfered to an alarming degree, according to detailed accounts provided to Congress.
Read more
Fixing Bush’s Mangled Mess
100 things President Obama can do right away
By Paul Koberstein
It is said there are no permanent victories in the war to save the planet, only temporary reprieves and permanent losses.
Put it this way: You can clearcut the forest only once. Species that go extinct don’t come back.
That is why conservation scientists warn us to err on the side of caution whenever we make a decision with significant impacts, and to embrace what they call the “precautionary principle.”
The precautionary principle means, according to the internationally recognized “Wingspread Statement on the Precautionary Principle:”
“When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.
“The process of applying the Precautionary Principle must be open, informed and democratic and must include potentially affected parties.”
The Bush administration did the opposite, playing a game of Russian roulette with nature. The administration hid or changed facts, acted in closed, secretive ways, and included only corporate interests in its decision-making process.
Here are 100 things President Obama can do right now (some of which will require cooperation from Congress):
1) Obama should appoint, as a member of his Cabinet, a chief science advisor who, among other things, must ensure the scientific integrity of his administration as well as iunderstand and implement the Precautionary Principle.
2) Second, he should reverse every environmental decision made under Bush that violates this principle. A review of every significant environmental action taken during the last eight years is in order.
