The Department of Interior will reopen its investigation into disputed decisions on endangered species made by a Bush administration political appointee accused of improper meddling in eight other cases.
Inspector General Earl Devaney has promised U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that his office will look into 13 decisions on endangered-species protections overseen by ousted official Julie MacDonald.
Among the Colorado species affected are the greater sage grouse, the Gunnison sage grouse and Gunnison’s prairie dog.
Over the summer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged that MacDonald wrongly overturned eight decisions on protections for endangered species, but Wyden’s request expands the inquiry.
“I have reason to believe that Julie MacDonald improperly influenced all of those decisions, and that the Fish and Wildlife Service’s review failed to capture the impact of her involvement,” Wyden wrote.
He noted that the Government Accountability Office also is reviewing work done by MacDonald, a political appointee with no science background.
The original list of troubled decisions was abbreviated “to make the problem seem smaller and more manageable than they would care to admit,” said Josh Pollock, conservation director at the Denver-based Center for Native Ecosystems.
Many of the decisions encompassed by the new investigation already have been contested courts by environmental organizations. The agency recently agreed in a court settlement to issue a revised proposal regarding the Gunnison’s prairie dog.
Steve Lipsher: 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
