U.S. Agency May Reverse 8 Decisions on Wildlife - New York Times

Spencer Weiner/The Los Angeles Times via the New York Times
The arroyo toad may benefit when the Interior Department reviews a former official’s decisions.

U.S. Agency May Reverse 8 Decisions on Wildlife - New York Times:

"The Interior Department said Friday that it would review and probably overturn eight decisions on wildlife and land-use issues made by a senior political appointee who has been found to have improperly favored industry and landowners over agency scientists.

"The appointee, Julie A. MacDonald, resigned on May 1 as a deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, after an internal review found that she had violated federal rules by giving government documents to lobbyists for industry. The agency’s inspector general also found several instances in which Ms. MacDonald browbeat department biologists and habitat specialists and overruled their recommendations to protect a variety of rare and threatened species."

Comment: Better late than never, but this is another example of how the Bush administration went wrong so many times on environmental and other issues. JAD