ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT COMPROMISED BY POLITICAL INTEREST

Here I was thinking about Long term Holding facilities and a mustang circus, while other more sharper individuals test their teeth on real stuff. DON'T MESS WITH SCIENCE  the president said in 2009. Scientific integrity is often questioned and SCIENCE FOR SALE was one of my other headlines. But what is unravelling now is a showcase against the BLM with a complaint filed at the DEPT of INT. DOI in regard to compromised data on ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS (the base for WILD HORSE ROUNDUPS by the BLM)
This in an excerpt followed by the NPR audio report of the filed complaint with the DOI in regard to political manipulation of ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT STUDIES. The BLM demanded to have CATTLE GRAZING DATA (the basis for excess wild horse roundups) omitted from the scientific report of range conditions. The Watchdog group PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY (PEER) based in Washington filed this report:

"....Ruch's complaint alleges that federal officials with the Bureau of Land Management hired researchers to do a major review of all the different environmental impacts on a half-dozen regions in the Western U. S., but directed the scientists to exclude livestock grazing from the analysis.

Government officials said they didn't include livestock grazing in the review because they didn't have the appropriate data. But Ruch doesn't buy it. He says livestock grazing on public land is a touchy subject because any restrictions would affect ranchers.

"To us, this is exactly the sort of abuse that the White House directive was designed to prevent," says Ruch. "And so we will file a formal complaint, under one of the few policies that exist."

Complaint Tests Rule Protecting Science From Politics - NPR 

CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE TO LISTEN TO THE AUDIO.