Senior Officials Accused of Skewing Science to Benefit Keystone XL Pipeline

Managers within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) overrode their scientific experts to adopt an inaccurate map based upon a flawed model that significantly shrank the range of an endangered species, according to agency investigative reports released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The managers not only retaliated against scientists who voiced objections but rushed into publication of a bogus scientific journal article to cover their tracks.
The American burying beetle (ABB), a critically endangered species, has seen its range dwindle from 35 states to the plains of South Dakota, Arkansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma —areas in the proposed path for the $5.3 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Based on complaints from FWS scientists, specially convened Scientific Integrity Review Panels found two “high-level” officials guilty of scientific misconduct. The panels found that Dixie Porter, supervisor of the FWS Oklahoma Ecological services field office in Tulsa, OK, and Luke Bell, FWS Branch Chief for Threatened and Endangered Species and Contaminants:
- Adopted flawed models that dramatically shrunk the known range of the ABB
- Compounded their misconduct by improperly rushing an article into publication that both “knowingly impeded” the original panel investigation and also would “further degrade the endangered status of the ABB.…” Despite this finding, FWS has yet retract the paper.
- Retaliated against line scientists who objected, including imposition of “several staff suspensions.”
This is the first time an Interior agency has upheld a scientific misconduct complaint under its relatively new Scientific Integrity policies. Yet FWS refused to release the reports to PEER under the Freedom of Information Act. PEER obtained them by filing an appeal with Interior’s Office of Solicitor, the administrative step before a lawsuit, and the solicitor ordered release of redacted versions of the reports.
“As outrageous as the misconduct in this case was, it is not an isolated occurrence,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that FWS is still withholding another, separate report of verified scientific misconduct but has been ordered to release it unless the Service can validate its previously unstated assertion that the report would reveal corporate trade secrets and confidential law enforcement techniques. “The leadership of the Service abets scientific subversion by keeping it hidden.”
The panels’ ABB findings were made in March and April of 2013. In July, Interior Inspector General Mary Kendall issued an extraordinary Management Advisory to Secretary Sally Jewel that FWS had yet to take “any formal and permanent action against the offending supervisors” but, to the contrary, “recent actions appear to have elevated their status.”
The two supervisors, Porter and Bell, were not formally removed from their positions but detailed to prestigious new assignments. Bell has since resigned to take a position in the oil and gas industry. Porter is expected to resign as soon as she can find another job. Meanwhile, the whistleblowing scientists had yet to receive any “relief,” according to the advisory.
“As it stands now, scientists who report scientific misconduct jeopardize their careers because the agency hierarchy stands by the violators,” Ruch added, pointing to numerous reports of how deeply politicized FWS science has become. “It appears pretty obvious that the scientific integrity problems in the Fish and Wildlife Service start with Director Dan Ashe.”
Visit EcoWatch’s BIODIVERSITY and KEYSTONE XL pages for more related news on this topic.
By Brett Wilkins
One hundred seconds to midnight. That's how close humanity is to the apocalypse, and it's as close as the world has ever been, according to Wednesday's annual announcement from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a group that has been running its "Doomsday Clock" since the early years of the nuclear age in 1947.
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
North Atlantic right whales are in serious trouble, but there is hope. A total of 14 new calves of the extremely endangered species have been spotted this winter between Florida and North Carolina.
- Scientists Discover New Population of Endangered Blue Whales ... ›
- Endangered Blue Whales Make 'Unprecedented' Comeback to ... ›
- Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale Calves Spotted Off Coast ... ›
- Only 366 Endangered Right Whales Are Alive: New NOAA Report ... ›
Trending
By Yoram Vodovotz and Michael Parkinson
The majority of Americans are stressed, sleep-deprived and overweight and suffer from largely preventable lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes. Being overweight or obese contributes to the 50% of adults who suffer high blood pressure, 10% with diabetes and additional 35% with pre-diabetes. And the costs are unaffordable and growing. About 90% of the nearly $4 trillion Americans spend annually for health care in the U.S. is for chronic diseases and mental health conditions. But there are new lifestyle "medicines" that are free that doctors could be prescribing for all their patients.
Use the Healthy Eating Plate as an evidence-based guide for creating healthy, balanced meals. ©2011, Harvard University, CC BY-NC
Taking an unconventional approach to conduct the largest-ever poll on climate change, the United Nations' Development Program and the University of Oxford surveyed 1.2 million people across 50 countries from October to December of 2020 through ads distributed in mobile gaming apps.
- Guardian/Vice Poll Finds Most 2020 Voters Favor Climate Action ... ›
- Climate Change Seen as Top Threat in Global Survey - EcoWatch ›
- The U.S. Has More Climate Deniers Than Any Other Wealthy Nation ... ›
By Tara Lohan
Fall used to be the time when millions of monarch butterflies in North America would journey upwards of 2,000 miles to warmer winter habitat.
A monarch butterfly caterpillar feeds on common milkweed on Poplar Island in Maryland. Photo: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, (CC BY-NC 2.0)