Statement at Salazar Town Hall Meeting, June 28, 2009

Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tuesday, 30 June 2009

 
My name is Lydia Miller. I live in Merced. I am president of the San Joaquin Raptor Wildlife Rescue Center. I am here today representing the Center, Protect Our Water,  Central Valley Safe Environment Network, and South California Endangered Species Habitat Alliance.
The Raptor Center was a petitioner on the 22-year-old San Joaquin River Settlement.
We would like to thank Secretary Salazar and Valley congressmen for convening this meeting. We thank congressmen Cardoza and Costa for their recent plea in Congress to declare Cardoza's district an economic disaster area. Merced County, despite receiving 100 percent of its irrigation water, has a higher unemployment rate than the counties where Westlands operates. So does Stanislaus, also in Cardoza's district. We take this opportunity to applaud Congressman Cardoza for his belated recognition that his pro-growth policy during the speculative housing bubble has led to immense misery in his district, which has the highest foreclosure rate in the nation. We regret the congressman has moved his family to Annapolis Maryland. His wife, a physician, was badly needed in our community.
There are six other CA counties that have higher unemployment rates than Fresno, Kings or Kern. Farm labor employment in Westlands counties has gained during the drought.  This unemployment propaganda is just another grower argument for depressing wages.
The meeting today is about two sources of surface water: the San Joaquin River and the San Joaquin Delta and west side groundwater, full of heavy metals and salts, which for 60 years has turned the 100-mile-long western reach of the San Joaquin River into a toxic drainage ditch. Last year, a federal court decision restricted some pumping from the Delta to protect endangered species.
Westlands use of water jeopardizes the public trust in water, fish and wildlife in the Central Valley. It jeopardizes small farmers from here to Trinity County. It jeopardizes cattle land. All of this came to bear at the Kesterson Wildlife Refuge in Merced County, where toxic agricultural drainage from Westlands poisoned and deformed migratory birds protected by international treaty, poisoned cattle and created a human cancer cluster. Westlands has created other cancer clusters on the west side of the Valley, in McFarland, for example. Its "economies of scale" have driven countless small farmers off the land.
We thank Westlands for making this an environmental justice issue by tying it to unemployment rates, at least in Mendota, and by extension to health and safety issues their farmworker employees have lived with since the beginning of Westlands. We regret that because of a series of special-interest deals by the federal government, it is impossible to openly discuss farm labor in our communities today. However, we will say that the largest beneficiaries of these deals have been agribusiness and the greatest victims, in addition to farmworkers, have been the Valley's natural resources, its wildlife, the public health and safety of all Valley citizens. 
Westlands Water District has been a bad neighbor since it first began receiving Delta water. This current propaganda campaign is in league with outside urban interests intent on gaining a peripheral canal on the Delta. Westlands should be taken off the table of the Delta debate. It should receive no more surface water to irrigate its alkali flats at the expense of the Public Trust.
Mr. Secretary, we won’t tolerate any more Julie MacDonalds in California.
Julie MacDonald
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_MacDonald
Julie A. MacDonald (born July 14, 1955) was a deputy assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks at the United States Department of the Interior appointed by former Secretary of the Interior. MacDonald was appointed by Gale Norton on 3 May 2004[1] and resigned on 1 May, 2007[2] after an internal investigation found that she had violated the Code of Federal Regulations under Use of Nonpublic Information and Basic Obligation of Public Service, Appearance of Preferential Treatment, although the investigation found no evidence of illegal activity….[3]
…Biography
MacDonald graduated from University of California, Davis in 1978 with a degree in civil engineering.[4] She joined the Department of the Interior in 1979 as a hydraulic engineer with the Bureau of Reclamation. Starting in 1987, MacDonald worked as a government administrator, including at the California Resources Agency.[5] MacDonald returned to the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2002 as an aide to the assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, the official who oversees the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Parks Service, two of the eight bureaus in the Department of the Interior. On 3 May 2004, Interior Secretary Gale Norton promoted MacDonald to be deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks in the Department of the Interior.[1]
…Events leading to resignation
On 30 October, 2006, the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit group that advocates scientific integrity, alleged that McDonald had "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 to adopt her edits."[6]
That year, the Department of the Interior Inspector General Earl E. Devaney undertook an investigation into the allegations against MacDonald. In March 2007, Devaney issued his report of that investigation, leveling charges of misconduct against MacDonald.[5] The two chief conclusions were that MacDonald had repeatedly violated the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.), Use of Nonpublic Information and Basic Obligation of Public Service, Appearance of Preferential Treatment by giving nonpublic, internal government documents to oil industry and property rights groups, and that MacDonald had manipulated and undermined scientific findings in order to favor the George W. Bush administration's policy goals and assist land developers.[7] According to the Inspector General, "MacDonald has been heavily involved with editing, commenting on, and reshaping the Endangered Species Program's scientific reports from the field."
MacDonald resigned on 1 May, 2007, one week before a House congressional oversight committee was to hold a hearing on the Inspector General's findings.[2] MacDonald was not given an opportunity to respond to the Inspector General's report until after it was leaked to media. MacDonald commented that she resigned due to public pressure.[8] In November 2007, a followup report by the Inspector General found that MacDonald could have benefited financially from a decision to remove the Sacramento splittail fish from the federal endangered species list.[9]
The Washington Post called the events leading to MacDonald's resignation "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."[10] In the aftermath of her departure, many endangered species decisions issued during her tenure were reversed.
…Aftermath
The Inspector General's findings led the Fish and Wildlife Service to reopen endangered species decisions made under MacDonald's supervision. The agency's director H. Dale Hall, formerly a wildlife biologist, called MacDonald's conduct "a blemish on the scientific integrity of the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior."[11] Hall reopened the agency's assessment of the southwest willow flycatcher after alleging that MacDonald had told field personnel to reduce the bird's natural nesting range from 2.1 miles to 1.8 miles.[12] Hall also told the inspector general that MacDonald had altered range estimates for the willow flycatcher because a critical habitat designation might impact family property in California. However, MacDonald maintained that the property is nearly 300 miles from flycatcher habitat, and that her alteration of the bird’s range was approved by agency experts, including Hall.[8]
Eight other endangered species decisions were reopened, including the white-tailed prairie dog, Preble's meadow jumping mouse, arroyo toad, California red-legged frog, and the Canada lynx.[13][14] In November 2007, the FWS announced that of the eight species reviewed, seven had been returned to endangered status after finding that their prior reviews had been "tainted by political pressure".[15] In December 2007, the US District Court for the District of Idaho overturned the FWS rejection of a petition to list the sage grouse as threatened and endangered,[16] citing misconduct by MacDonald. In its decision, the court wrote that "The FWS decision was tainted by the inexcusable conduct of one of its own executives...who was neither a scientist nor a sage-grouse expert, had a well-documented history of intervening in the listing process."
In September 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to more than triple the habitat of the California red-legged frog. The 2008 decision ignored that which was reached under MacDonald, due to "the involvement of Department of Interior personnel which may have inappropriately influenced the extent and locations of critical habitat".[17] According to the LA Times, "The agency revisited the original habitat designation, citing scientific miscalculations and political manipulation by a former Interior Department official, Julie MacDonald."[18]
A December 2008 report by Inspector General Devaney found that MacDonald had interfered with 13 of the 20 endangered species rulings that were reevaluated.[3][19] In a letter to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests, Devaney said, "MacDonald injected herself personally and profoundly in a number of ESA decisions. We determined that MacDonald's management style was abrupt and abrasive, if not abusive, and that her conduct demoralized and frustrated her staff as well as her subordinate managers."[3] Wyden, who commissioned the report, said "This report makes it crystal clear how one person’s contempt for the public trust can infect an entire agency...[MacDonald caused] significant harm to the integrity of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and...untold waste of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars."[20][21]
…References

  1. ^ a b MacDonald Named Deputy Assistant Secretary
  2. ^ a b Matthew Daly (May 1, 2007). "Embattled Interior official resigns post". Associated Press. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/05/01/interior_official_quits_ahead_of_hearing/. 
  3. ^ a b c Investigative Report of the Endangered Species Act and the Conflict Between Science and Policy Redacted
  4. ^ "Report Says Interior Official Overrode Work of Scientists". New York Times. March 29, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/washington/29environ.html. 
  5. ^ a b REPORT OF INVESTIGATION: Julie MacDonald, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Fish, Wildlife and Parks
  6. ^ "Systematic Interference with Science at Interior Department Exposed Emails and Edited Documents Show Evidence of Inappropriate Manipulation". Union of Concerned Scientists. October 30, 2006. http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/systematic-interference-with.html. 
  7. ^ Report: Interior official blasted for twisting environmental data
  8. ^ a b "More to Julie MacDonald case than meets the eye". September 6, 2007. http://www.gazette.com/opinion/MacDonald_26957___article.html/report_esa.html. 
  9. ^ U.S. Endangered Species Program Burdened by Political Meddling
  10. ^ "Bush Appointee Said to Reject Advice on Endangered Species". Washington Post. October 30, 2006. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/29/AR2006102900776_2.html. 
  11. ^ Broder, John M (2007-07-21). "U.S. Agency May Reverse 8 Decisions on Wildlife". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/21/washington/21interior.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin. 
  12. ^ "Report Faults Interior Appointee; Landowner Issues Trumped Animal Protections, Inspector General Says". Washington Post. March 30, 2007. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/29/AR2007032902003.html?nav=rss_nation. 
  13. ^ Lewis, Paul (2007-07-20). "Agency to review species decisions". Washington Post. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003799211_endangered21.html. 
  14. ^ Heilprin, John (2007-07-23). "Endangered Species Rulings Under Review". Philly.com. http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation/washington/cabinet/8636542.html. 
  15. ^ "Agency reverses endangered species ruling". CNN. 2007-11-28. http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/11/28/endangered.species.ap/index.html. 
  16. ^ "Western Watersheds Project v. US Fish and Wildlife Service, Case No. CV-06-277-E-BLW" (PDF). December 4, 2007. http://www.westernwatersheds.org/legal/07/sagegrouse/greater_sage-grouse_sj_decision.pdf. 
  17. ^ "Service Proposes 300% Increase In California Red-legged Frog Critical Habitat; Comment Period Opens for Proposal Based on Entirely New Analysis". September 16, 2008. http://www.fws.gov/news/newsreleases/showNews.cfm?newsId=6C023432-D700-0E3C-FB101DD28AA17E4A. 
  18. ^ A California frog may be about to get room to stretch its red legs
  19. ^ New Report Finds More Than a Dozen Endangered Species Rulings Compromised by Former Interior Department Political Appointee
  20. ^ Wyden-Requested IG Report on Interior Corruption Uncovers "Contempt for the Public Trust" and "Untold Waste" - Senator praises Devaney's investigation into political interference in ESA decisions.
  21. ^ Report Finds Meddling in Interior Dept. Actions