Federal Biologist Quits Over Klamath Fish Kill, Distorted Science

[hatrack]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- "A federal biologist who said his team's advice was illegally ignored prior to a massive 2002 Klamath River fish kill has resigned, accusing the government of politicizing scientific decision-making and misleading the public. Michael Kelly had sought federal whistleblower protection after he complained the Bush administration violated the Endangered Species Act by pressuring for altered scientific findings by the review team he led for the National Marine Fisheries Service, now NOAA Fisheries.

"My efforts were ultimately unproductive," Kelly laments in his resignation letter, released Wednesday through Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which represented Kelly in the whistleblower case first reported by The Associated Press. "Threatened coho salmon in the Klamath basin still do not have adequate flow conditions to assure their survival."

Kelly alleged his team's recommendations were twice rejected as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation imposed lower water levels than were scientifically justified.

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The U.S. Office of Special Counsel declined to investigate Kelly's complaint, saying it could neither prove "gross mismanagement" by NOAA Fisheries even if the agency relied on conflicting science nor prove a cause-and-effect relationship between the low water decision and the subsequent die-off. Kelly's testimony has since been key in a federal court ruling overturning the agency's long-term water flow plan for the Klamath, though a decision allowing the government to proceed with its plans through 2008 is under appeal. Kelly resigned from the agency's Arcata, Calif., office Friday after nine years, saying Regional Manager Jim Lecky had again intervened in overturning his finding in the latest project to which he was assigned. He feared a repeat of his ethical predicament two years ago."

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[nosmokes]

1. this pisses me off so much.

the farmers that scream about losing *their* water and play up their family farmer status crap conveniently never mention that this water they're crying over has been subsidised by the taxpayer for the past 100 years or more. so much for that independent spirit, huh, farmer john? but it sure kept the the klamath, yurok, hupa and karuk tribes downstream from relying on the salmon and remaining self-suffecient as they had been for a few thousands of years.

[GreenGreenLimaBean]

2. another good post by Hat!

Its frustrating that most environmental news is ignored, but
Hat doesn't lose faith.

Free Hat!