<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Captive_Florida_panther_1.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>
Today, Public Employees for Environmental Responsiblity, the eco watchdog group, came out swinging against President Obama’s pick to lead the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. For the past dozen years, Sam Hamilton has overseen the 10-state FWS Southeastern Region, where numerous endangered species battles are being fought between environentalists and developers in fast growing states such as Florida. PEER is unimpressed with how Hamilton handled those fights, noting that he “did not protect science from political interference or scientists from retaliation.”
As a case in point, PEER notes the decision of Hamilton’s team to green-light suburban sprawl in shrinking Florida panther habitat. The decision falsely inflated the size and viability of the panther population, to the point that Hamilton’s region was rebuked by none other than Steve Williams, the FWS director under George W. Bush. Even so, Hamilton took no disciplinary action against any of the managers involved and “several of the scientific deficiencies persist today,” PEER says.
Apparently, this was not an isolated incident. In a 2005 survey of FWS scientists working in Hamilton’s region, 49 percent cited cases where “commercial interests have inappropriately induced the reversal or withdraw of scientific conclusions,” 46 percent said they’d been “directed for non-scientific reasons . . .to refrain from making findings that are protective of species,” and 36 percent feared retailiation for raising concerns about species and habitats. Most damming, less than a quarter of respondents felt Hamilton would “stand up for scientific staff or supervisors who take controversial stands.”
In short, Hamilton seems at best a pliable bureaucrat. Maybe that makes him a convienent pick for the Obama administration, but he doesn’t seem likely to reverse Bush’s environmental legacy any more than he’s asked to.
