| About a month ago I filed Freedom of Information Act requests at a number of federal agencies involved in the decisions over the Klamath Basin. I've gotten letters back from everyone acknowledging the request, and they get 20 business days to give a response. Sometimes the response is "we got nuthin," which is what a Marine Fisheries regional office told me. Other times, if you're lucky, you hear back a straightforward answer: here's a summary of what we have; order what you want copied by item number.
The Office of Secretary of the Interior has returned a summary of several "conversations" Senator Gordon Smith had with officials at Interior. They stretch back as far as February 2001, one month after George Bush's inauguration and two months before the earliest evidence we knew of that Smith had gotten himself involved. The first sign the media seemed to catch wind was after Smith's letter of March 30, 2001 to the White House, asking for "regulatory relief." After weeks of fruitless searching for that letter, it looks like we scored a hit on the Interior servers for it. And uh, actually quite a bit more. In fact, there's some stuff that sure looks like he's pressuring scientists to change their conclusions. Whatever he was saying--and we'll find out--he was doing a lot of talking to a lot of people.
But hey, let's look through it together.
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| They did two searches; one with "Gordon Smith" and "Klamath," and one "Gordon Smith" and "Endangered Species." The ESA one is just one page, with three "conversations." The first listing jumps out at you; February 9, 2001: Smith lobbies the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service about their plans to hold water for salmon and suckerfish. Barely had the decision gone down before Smith was taking on the scientists over their findings. THAT is what he doesn't want you to know. We'll be asking for that conversation.
The second listing is just run of the mill interest by Western Senators in delisting wolves(!), but the third is the flip of the complaint letters to the scientists over their findings. Once the NAS sent down their findings, Smith hopped right on and told the Secretary of Interior to get on the stick implementing those findings. Which they did. Which was a terrible mistake. Which was ruled improperly and illegally done. We'll be asking for that one.
There are three pages of documents under the Smith+Klamath search. Page one is here. The first two listings don't jump out at you, but they're definitely related to the Klamath Basin in some way, and he's still expressing scientific concern to the scientists, so we're asking for those conversations. The next item is a bipartisan letter to the White House cced to DOI on behalf of farm relief; we'll leave that be.
Then you have what appears to be a summary of the response to Smith. I'm not sure yet what WB is in WBR; WHR is White House Referral, and it indicates not one but two letters to the President from Smith, that were then referred to Secretary Norton. That one looks intriguing; we're getting this one. The next item has no description whatsoever. That's a definite yes.
The last item on page one is a two-fer with Greg Walden to a "Science Advisor" in 2002, recommending "immediate review of study known as Hardy Study re Klamath River." The Hardy Phase II report was a set of flow measurement models that formed the basis of the federal biologists' opinion protecting the fish. Here you have two Members of Congress attempting to impugn the best available science, because they don't like what it says. I'm dying to know their reasoning. This is a big yes. Oh--note one of the recipients: Sue Ellen Woolridge, the official named as the midlevel bureaucrat that Dick Cheney put the touch on to start the ball rolling at Interior for Smith.
I'm not sure why these listings aren't in chronological order by correspondence date, but they're not. On page two we see the precursor to the last item on page one--a complaint from Smith, Walden and Wally Herger (R-CA2) sharing their "concern" about the Hardy study, amazingly all the way back to February 7, 2001. The summary isn't shy about the topic of the conversation. The authors question its science, credibility and the fact that our constituents (ie water users) have been excluded. Ask for an immediate suspension of the Hardy Study pending a complete review, audit by the IG, and scientific peer review.
WTF? Gordon Smith tried to tell farmers the government poisoned suckerfish. He tried to tell the R-G the fish died of gill disease, something his own ally thought absurd. He says there's no evidence the water cutoff led to the fish kill. THIS guy is expressing concern about the science of the Hardy study? Excuse me, perfesser!
The rest of the items on page 2 we're going to ask for, but they tend to repeat the theme in a familiar pattern: express concern, recommend implementation of now-corrected plan, thank compliant federal agency personnel for doing what he asked. The only other notable entry is what appears to be the originally known letter to the White House, which we now know was either the first or the second letter. Busy correspondent, that Gordon!
There's only one entry on page 4, but just from the summary entry, it may be the best example of the pressure Smith was putting on the lower agency personnel. Dated March 14, 2001, the same trio of Members thanked Woolridge for their meeting two days earlier, but felt that urgency of situation was not sufficiently conveyed at meeting. Asks that WBR be restored historic operating flexibility, instead of allowing FWS and NMFS unreasonable requirements. Wants Upper Klamath Lake filled to capacity.
So let me see if I have the timeline right. February 7th, they complained to the Secretary about this damned scientific conclusion that was going to short farmers. On March 12th, they got a meeting with Cheney's designated fixer. On March 14th, they complained louder in a "no, we really mean it" letter. And they were still bugging her a year later about it, until finally the fix was found, and then it was time to make sure they knew they'd been beaten, with a quick thanks to the hacks at the top who made it happen. That's just great. So yeah, I'd like to see what that's all about.
This could get interesting...
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