Bush Interior Hacks Endangered More Species

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

The Bush administration's actions have been rife with outrageous misappropriation of government power for personal gain, environmental destruction, and the politicization of science. But as outrageous as they have been, few have been as baldly self-serving as this: 

WASHINGTON—A high-ranking Interior Department official tainted nearly every decision made on the protection of endangered species over five years, a new inspector general report finds, concluding she exerted improper political interference on many more rulings than previously thought.

Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant secretary overseeing the Fish and Wildlife Service, did pervasive harm to the department's morale and integrity and may have risked the well-being of species with her agenda, Interior Inspector General Earl Devaney said in his report out Monday.

The only species whose well-being I'd like to see "risked" is that of the Bush hacks. According to the Associated Press, and luckily, I might add, Interior officials had the presence of mind to reverse seven of her attempts to deny increased protection to endangered species, after finding she'd applied political pressure in those cases.

"The new report looked at nearly two dozen other endangered species decisions not examined in the earlier report. It found MacDonald directly interfered with at least 13 decisions and indirectly affected at least two more."

At least we can breathe a bit easier now that this crowd is leaving town. But as I've stated before, the incoming Obama Administration will spend the better part of its next four years undoing the rampaging damage done by Bush appointees.

• Read more by Bonnie Erbe.
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• Read more about the Department of the Interior.