Bush has yet to remove all science from high school science classrooms (Hey, they're working on it). But he's doing an EXCELLENT job of removing any annoying scientific facts from government reports.
The latest travesty. The LA Times reports a Bush official cut out essential scientific warnings on what was supposed to be a scientific study of the environmental impact of cattle grazing on public lands. No bonus points for guessing whether the revised study favored industry over the environment.
Hey, this isn't unusual or strange. It's just the way they do business. So why should it be more than a blip in the media? Bush's people distorting facts to suit their own purposes? Come on, that's old news.
The original draft of the environmental analysis warned that the new rules would have a "significant adverse impact" on wildlife, but that phrase was removed. The BLM now concludes that the grazing regulations are "beneficial to animals."
Eliminated from the final draft was another conclusion that read: "The Proposed Action will have a slow, long-term adverse impact on wildlife and biological diversity in general."
Also removed was language saying how the rules changes could adversely affect endangered species.
"This is a whitewash, they took all of our science and reversed it 180 degrees," said Erick Campbell, a former BLM state biologist in Nevada and a 30-year BLM employee who retired this year. Campbell was the author of sections of the report pertaining to impacts on wildlife and threatened and endangered species. "They rewrote everything. It's a crime," he said in an interview this week.
