Pick-Your-Own Science
It isn’t easy, this trendy business of molding science to public policy instead of the other way around. Politicians and officials have to learn how to pick only the science they like, denigrate the science they don’t like and invent high-flown reasons for overruling the science that cannot otherwise be ignored.
The state Fish and Game Commission has been adept at all three.
The commission decided this month not to ban lead bullets used in hunting, saying the science wasn’t good enough to show that ammunition is a key source of the lead that’s known to be killing condors. Yet, less than two years ago, the state Department of Fish and Game, the commission’s regulatory agency, led a study that said “lead ammunition is contributing to the high lead levels documented in some wild condors.” A report for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reached the same conclusion. In the 1980s, lead bullets were cited as a key factor in the near-extinction of wild condors that led to the captive-breeding program.
But then, this is the same commission that 14 months ago decided to ban the GloFish, an aquarium fish rendered fluorescent by DNA tweaking, even though tests showed there was no way the fish could survive in California’s chilly waters and posed no threat to the environment or people. The commission acknowledged the science, but didn’t like the notion of genetic tinkering.
Less than three months later, commission President James W. Kellogg said he would reconsider the vote -- not because he saw the scientific light but because his wife, an aquarium hobbyist who wanted a GloFish, “ripped me apart” over his vote.
In November, Kellogg used his position to intervene in a criminal case against a friend, a herring fisherman who used nets with smaller mesh than allowed. Herring fisheries have declined by about 80%, according to scientists, leading to requirements that the mesh be large enough to let juvenile fish escape. Kellogg, however, has made it clear that he believes herring fishermen -- with their vested interest in saying there are plenty of herring -- over state biologists.
Maybe the commission has been taking its cues from the Bush administration, which has repeatedly ignored and reinterpreted science to make environmental policy suit industry. In a strange parallel to the state story, scientists in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said they were told to change findings, weakening wildlife protections.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday wisely withdrew his nomination of Marilyn Hendrickson to the Fish and Game Commission. She had rejected the lead-bullet ban and voted against recommended protections for various species. If her departure doesn’t improve matters, the governor can turn to his plan to eliminate many state boards and commissions. Fish and Game isn’t on that list, but if it can’t get down to facts, maybe it should be.
