Julie MacDonald

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Julie A. MacDonald was a deputy assistant secretary at the United States Department of the Interior until her resignation on May 1, 2007,[1] after an internal review found that she had violated federal rules by giving government documents to lobbyists for industry.[2] She was appointed by U.S. President George W. Bush in 2002.

[edit] Biography

MacDonald graduated from University of California, Davis in 1978. A civil engineer by training, she served at the California Resources Agency before joining the Department of the Interior.[3]

[edit] Controversy

According to an October 2006 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit group that advocates scientific integrity, McDonald "personally reversed scientific findings, changed scientific conclusions to prevent endangered species from receiving protection, removed relevant information from a scientific document, and ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to adopt her edits."[4] Francesca Grifo, director of the organization's scientific integrity program, described MacDonald's actions as politicization of science: "not business as usual but a systemic problem of tampering with science that is putting our environment at risk."[5]

In March 2007, Interior Department Inspector General Earl E. Devaney reported that MacDonald broke federal rules by giving non-public, internal government documents to oil industry and property rights groups, and manipulated scientific findings to favor Bush policy goals and assist land developers.[6]

Specifically, the report found that

Through interviewing various sources, including FWS employees and senior officials, and reviewing pertinent documents and e-mails, we confirmed that MacDonald has been heavily involved with editing, commenting on, and reshaping the Endangered Species Program's scientific reports from the field. MacDonald admitted that her degree is in civil engineering and that she has no formal educational background in natural sciences, such as biology... MacDonald's conduct violated the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) under 5 C.F.R. 9 2635.703 Use of Nonpublic Information and 5 C.F.R. 5 2635.101 Basic Obligation of Public Service, Appearance of Preferential Treatment.[7]

A 30 March 2007 Washington Post article states

"At one point, according to Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall, MacDonald tangled with field personnel over designating habitat for the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher, a bird whose range is from Arizona to New Mexico and Southern California. When scientists wrote that the bird had a "nesting range" of 2.1 miles, MacDonald told field personnel to change the number to 1.8 miles. Hall, a wildlife biologist who told the IG he had had a "running battle" with MacDonald, said she did not want the range to extend to California because her husband had a family ranch there."[8]

MacDonald resigned on May 1, 2007, "a week before a House congressional oversight committee was to hold a hearing on accusations that she violated the Endangered Species Act, censored science and mistreated staff of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."[1]

On July 20, 2007, MacDonald's "inappropriate influence" led H. Dale Hall, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, to order a review of eight endangered species decisions in which the former deputy assistant secretary was involved. Hall has called MacDonald's disputed decisions a "a blemish on the scientific integrity of the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior."[9]

U.S. Representative Nick J. Rahall II, chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, said "I am heartened to hear that the Department of the Interior is stepping up to the plate...What we have learned to date raises concerns about political tinkering with science that has affected many endangered-species-related decisions--and goodness knows what else--that deserve further scrutiny."[9]

Environmental advocacy groups cautiously lauded the decision. Francesca Grifo, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' integrity program, said "While we welcome the revisiting of decisions where political interference has been documented, the list of species under consideration is neither comprehensive nor exhaustive...The real culprit here is not a renegade political appointee...The real culprit is a process where decisions are made behind closed doors."[10] In a press release, Grifo also noted that in a 2005 survey, "84 [Fish and Wildlife Service] scientists reported having been directed to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information from FWS scientific documents."[11]

On 29 November, 2007, a new report by the Interior Department's inspector general found that MacDonald could have benefitted financially from a decision she was involved with to remove the Sacramento splittail fish from the federal endangered species list.[12]

The eight species reviewed included the white-tailed prairie dog, Preble's meadow jumping mouse, arroyo toad, California red-legged frog, and the Canada lynx.[13][10] Some of the species that were not slated for review were the marbled murrelet, the spotted owl, and the bull trout.[9] On November 27, 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that of the eight species reviewed, seven had been returned to endangered status after the review found their original removal from the status had been "tainted by political pressure".[14]

Julie MacDonald's interference with scientific findings were not a personal aberration, The Washington Post concluded as early as October 2006:

The dispute is the latest in a series of controversies in which government officials and outside scientists have accused the Bush administration of overriding or setting aside scientific findings that clashed with its political agenda on such issues as global warming, the Plan B emergency contraceptive and stem cell research.[15]

MacDonald's record of inappropriate conduct was also cited by the US District Court for the District of Idaho in its decision to overturn the US FWS's rejection of a petition to list the sage grouse as threatened and endangered (Western Watersheds Project v. US Fish and Wildlife Service[16]). In the 04 December 2007 decision, the Court wrote

"...the FWS decision was tainted by the inexcusable conduct of one of its own executives. Julie MacDonald, a Deputy Assistant Secretary who was neither a scientist nor a sage-grouse expert, had a well-documented history of intervening in the listing process to ensure that the “best science” supported a decision not to list the species. Her tactics included everything from editing scientific conclusions to intimidating FWS staffers. Her extensive involvement in the sage-grouse listing decision process taints the FWS’s decision and requires a reconsideration without her involvement."


[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Matthew Daly. "Embattled Interior official resigns post", Associated Press, May 1, 2007. 
  2. ^ New York Times, "U.S. Agency May Reverse 8 Decisions on Wildlife", July 21, 2007.
  3. ^ "Report Says Interior Official Overrode Work of Scientists", New York Times, March 29, 2007. 
  4. ^ "Systematic Interference with Science at Interior Department Exposed Emails and Edited Documents Show Evidence of Inappropriate Manipulation", Union of Concerned Scientists, October 30, 2006. 
  5. ^ "Bush Appointee Said to Reject Advice on Endangered Species", Washington Post, October 30, 2006. 
  6. ^ "[<http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-29-interior_N.htm?csp=15 Report: Interior official blasted for twisting environmental data]", USA Today, March 30, 2007. 
  7. ^ "REPORT OF INVESTIGATION: Julie MacDonald, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Fish, Wildlife and Parks", US Department of the Interior, March 23, 2007. 
  8. ^ "Report Faults Interior Appointee; Landowner Issues Trumped Animal Protections, Inspector General Says", Washington Post, March 30, 2007. 
  9. ^ a b c Broder, John M. "U.S. Agency May Reverse 8 Decisions on Wildlife", New York Times, 2007-07-21. 
  10. ^ a b Heilprin, John. "Endangered Species Rulings Under Review", Philly.com, 2007-07-23. 
  11. ^ FWS Acknowledges "Inappropriate Influence" In Decision-Making; Actions Insufficient to Restore Scientific Integrity to Policy Making
  12. ^ U.S. Endangered Species Program Burdened by Political Meddling
  13. ^ Lewis, Paul. "Agency to review species decisions", Washington Post, 2007-07-20. 
  14. ^ "Agency reverses endangered species ruling", CNN, 2007-11-28. 
  15. ^ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/29/AR2006102900776.html "Bush Appointee Said to Reject Advice on Endangered Species", The Washington Post, October 30, 2006.
  16. ^ "Western Watersheds Project v. US Fish and Wildlife Service, Case No. CV-06-277-E-BLW", December 4, 2007.