Tina Smith: “today as my first legislative action of the new session, I am introducing important legislation that would require a…”

“today as my first legislative action of the new session, I am introducing important legislation that would require a higher standard for the science used in administering the Endangered Species Act. The Sound Science for Endangered Species Act Planning Act of 2004 would require independent scientific peer review of certain actions taken by the regulatory agencies under the Endangered Species Act. In addition, it would require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce to give greater weight to scientific or commercial data that is empirical or has been field-tested or peer-reviewed. In recent years, we in the northwest have experienced a number of situations in which Federal agency scientists either demanded actions not supported by scientific data, or actually fabricated the data itself. In December 2001, it was revealed that Federal employees had submitted hairs from a captive Canada lynx as though they had been recovered during field surveys in several national forests to determine the range and habitat of this threatened species. It was also revealed in an Oregon newspaper that a Forest Service biologist criticized his own agency for shoddy work.”