Scientific Report Revised by Political Appointees at DOI

In a 2018 Presidential Memorandum, President Trump called for an effort to “maximiz[e] water supply deliveries'' to farmers in the region, in accordance with promises made on his Presidential campaign. Before the memorandum could be implemented, federal agency scientists were legally required to complete a review of the possible environmental impacts that would result from diverting additional water from local waterways, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). On July 1, 2019, federal scientists submitted for review a report finding that the planned diversions would endanger salmon populations in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, as well as whale populations for which the fish provide a vital food source. Two days after the report was issued, the Trump administration ordered a “strike team” to re-write the findings. The team reportedly removed references to the potential threats to wildlife from the report.  

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) subsequently challenged the Trump administration’s decision in court. Documents filed in the proceedings detail numerous potential violations of scientific integrity policy and political interference in the scientific review. For example, emails filed by the Department of the Interior indicated that Maria Rea, a senior policy adviser with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Sacramento, notified her boss that she was being held back from sending scientific data for peer review which she said “definitely raises a flag with respect to scientific integrity.” In another email, an agency branch chief, Cathy Marcinkevage, circulated a news story to her colleagues which detailed federal scientists being restricted or blocked from Congressional testimony on climate change, saying the story felt familiar and vowing she would “do the right thing” even if “someone else tries to bury” her work. A regional director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Paul Souza, said there had been no political interference.