Dissenting Scientist Fired by Administration's Fish and Wildlife Service

[Guest guest]

( If you do not understand what a panther has to do with " health " , then you do

not understand what a healthy natural ecosystem of plants and animals have to do

with health. They are inseperable and you should educate yourself on it. In fact

life on this planet is dependent on it.)

 

> Thu, 05 Aug 2004 13:15:05 GMT

> " BushGreenwatch " <info

 

> Dissenting Scientist Fired by

> Administration's Fish and Wildlife Service

>

> ***************************************

> BUSHGREENWATCH

> Tracking the Bush Administration's Environmental

> Misdeeds

> http://www.bushgreenwatch.org

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>

> August 5, 2004

>

> DISSENTING SCIENTIST FIRED BY ADMINISTRATION'S FISH

> AND WILDLIFE

> SERVICE

>

> Last May BushGreenwatch reported that a 17-year

> veteran of the

> U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had filed a

> legal complaint

> against the agency, charging that agency officials

> deliberately

> used flawed scientific data in setting policy for

> protecting the

> Florida panther, an endangered species with only

> 60-80 animals

> remaining in the wild. [1]

>

> Now Fish and Wildlife officials have notified the

> agency

> employee, biologist Andrew Eller, that they intend

> to fire him

> for " unacceptable " performance. Eller has spent the

> last 10

> years working in the Florida panther recovery

> program.

>

> The move follows the firing on July 9 of Theresa

> Chambers, chief

> of the U.S. Park Police, after she publicly stated

> that the

> government response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks

> had stretched

> her staff's capacities to the limits, and that she

> needed more

> resources. Eller's dismissal reinforces the growing

> perception

> that the Bush Administration is utterly intolerant

> of internal

> dissent.

>

> Eller's legal challenge, which was filed jointly

> with the

> advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental

> Responsibility

> (PEER), alleges that studies used by FWS

> inaccurately inflate

> the panthers' population in South Florida, thereby

> minimizing

> the amount of habitat the animals need to survive.

>

> Specifically, the agency assumes in its population

> estimates

> that all known panthers are breeding adults, and

> that the

> population includes no juveniles or aged animals.

> The agency

> further minimized habitat needs by considering only

> daytime

> habitat, when the panthers are at rest, and not

> nighttime

> habitat needs, when they are active. [2]

>

> On July 7, the Fish and Wildlife Service replied to

> the Eller's

> challenge and admitted using flawed data, stating:

>

> " We acknowledge that despite being published in

> peer-reviewed

> scientific journals, some of the information you are

> challenging

> has, over time, been determined to have

> limitations... "

>

> Nevertheless, FWS asserted that it would continue

> using the

> inaccurate data until 2006, by which time several

> huge

> developments in Southwest Florida, within shrinking

> panther

> habitat, may be approved. According to PEER, Fish

> and Wildlife

> is under enormous political pressure to approve the

> developments. [3]

>

> Commenting on Eller's firing, PEER executive

> director Jeff Ruch

> told BushGreenwatch, " When it comes to intimidating

> its own

> scientists, the Fish and Wildlife Service is about

> as subtle as

> a Mack truck. The Fish and Wildlife Service is

> signaling that

> under the Bush administration scientists who won't

> play ball

> will be blackballed. " [4]

>

> Under government rules, Eller has 30 days to respond

> to his

> proposed dismissal. If FWS proceeds with its plans

> to remove

> him, he can challenge the action before the Merit

> Systems

> Protection Board, the court of the federal civil

> service.

>

> ###

>

> TAKE ACTION

> Sign a petition and support the integrity of science

> through

> PEER's website: http://ga3.org/ct/adzkGk91VjTW/.

>

> ###

>

> SOURCES:

> [1] National Wildlife Federation Florida website,

> http://ga3.org/ct/qpzkGk91VjT6/.

> [2] PEER press release, Jul. 29, 2004,

> http://ga3.org/ct/a7zkGk91VjTI/.

> [3] Ibid.

> [4] Ibid.

>

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