Interior deputy secretary in Bush admin now consulting for EDF

Lynn Scarlett, who held the Interior Department's No. 2 post during the Bush administration, is now working for an advocacy group that was frequently at odds with her department during her time there. The former Interior deputy secretary is consulting for the Environmental Defense Fund, working on three white papers on climate change, ecosystem services and landscape-scale conservation. Said Scarlett, "I love it. It's great." Scarlett was second in command at Interior from 2005 to 2009, a period some environmentalists call the worst years ever for the department. At issue for the groups were rampant political corruption and much-reviled efforts to shrink endangered-species protection and promote oil and gas development on public lands. But environmental lobbyists say they do not blame Scarlett for Interior's problems. They say Scarlett -- a birder who took a particular interest in wildlife refuges and bird conservation -- was willing to listen to environmentalists and took a reasonable approach to formulating policy...NY Times