In an article in The New York Times today, a report was issued in which the inspector general of the Interior Dept. found at least 15 instances in which Interior agency officials interfered with the scientific work in regards to developing policies protecting endangered species. Julie A. MacDonald, former deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks and overseer of endangered species issues, was named as one of the worst in this gang of meddlers. She had resigned in May of 2007, after an earlier report found she had "run roughshod over agency scientists and violated federal rules by giving internal documents to industry lobbyists".
Well, I for one, have been expecting this for, oh, eight years, maybe? The whole history of Bush & Co. is of bending over backwards for special interests, especially oil and energy and mining interests. Unfortunately, those guys are the ones that are nearly always the worst environmentally, which explains the meddling of MacDonald and crew. Whenever they interfered with the scientific work on endangered species policy, you can bet that it was because the new policy would have interfered with oil, energy, or mining interests' operations.
Oh, I CANNOT WAIT for Obama to assume the Presidency. It will be oh so lovely to have some real, responsible people in the government - people who will at least consider the rest of us and the environment when they're making their decisions. Maybe I'm putting too much faith in Obama - after all, he is only human, and the special interests have a stranglehold on Washington. But after 8 years of Dubya, Obama is my last hope - my last hope, our last hope, and the environment's last hope.
