This time the culprit is the Bureau of Land Management. That division of the Interior Department responsible for "soundly" managing much of our federal lands. About 160 million acres of this land is leased for cattle grazing. Cattle are hard on the environment, negatively effect biodiversity, and in places are a threat to endangered species. But these are annoying facts. So, lets get rid of them.
LATimes
The Bush administration altered critical portions of a scientific analysis of the environmental impact of cattle grazing on public lands before announcing Thursday that it would relax regulations limiting grazing on those lands, according to scientists involved in the study.
Where getting used to this. Right? Change a few words here and there. Remove a sentence or two. No big deal. Well this time they out did themselves.
What did they change? Just about everything!
"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 bureau employee who retired this year. He was the author of sections of the report pertaining to the effect on wildlife and threatened and endangered species.
"They rewrote everything," Campbell said in an interview this week. "It's a crime."
Well not everyone is unhappy with this news.
"We're hopeful that some of the provisions will strengthen the public lands grazing industry and give our members certainty in their business," said Jenni Beck of the National Cattlemen's Beef Assn. "We are encouraged that this [environmental impact statement] demonstrates the benefits of grazing on public lands."
The benefits of grazing! Yeah to you, the few. Only 2% of domestic cattle are grazed on BLM land.
WMD, Global warming, Endangered Species... Facts, we don't need no stinkin' facts!
