Western Democrats in Congress want a federal investigation into the Trump administration鈥檚 decision to remove northern spotted owl protections across vast stretches of Northwest forestland.
Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer joined with colleagues from Washington, California and Arizona Tuesday in. In it, they requested an immediate federal review into the previous administration鈥檚 in Oregon, Washington and California.
The letter states the decision was a far cry from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service鈥檚 proposal in August to reduce the owl鈥檚 critical habitat by 200,000 acres. The lawmakers want an immediate review of the decision to determine whether then-Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt ignored scientific recommendations made by staff.
鈥淚n less than two brief years under David Bernhardt鈥檚 leadership, the Department has been mired in one ethical scandal after another. Bernhardt and his loyalists have demonstrated a willingness to insert themselves into the scientific process in order to achieve preferred policy outcomes, withhold information from the public, and even mislead Congress,鈥� the lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers stated the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service appears to fit a larger pattern of wrongdoing by the former administration鈥檚 political leadership.
Before slashing the species鈥� critical habitat, the Trump administration Endangered Species Act protection from threatened to endangered late last year. According to the agency, the species warranted that change, but other species on the list had a higher priority. The decision was based on a scientific report that was peer-reviewed by academic and industry experts.
鈥淔ederal agencies cannot be in the business of thrusting special-interest politics into decisions that should be based on science,鈥� Wyden said in an emailed statement. 鈥淕iven the Trump administration鈥檚 long and sorry record at the Interior Department, I鈥檓 confident the Biden administration will review this last-minute decision by its ethically challenged predecessors and determine if scientific recommendations were followed in this instance.鈥�
Other lawmakers that joined Wyden in the request are U.S. Sens Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Patty Murray, D-Wash., and U.S. Reps. Ra煤l Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Jared Huffman, D-Calif.
The Fish and Wildlife Service did not respond to a request for comment.
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