Angry federal judge rips 'false testimony' of federal scientists

I encourage everyone to read this column by Ron Arnold, where he discusses two recent opinions by U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger. Here are some excerpts:

...In a searing opinion, Wanger ripped two Interior Department scientists for giving "false" and "incredible" testimony to support a "bad faith" delta smelt preservation plan. The two scientists are Frederick V. Feyrer of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and Jennifer M. Norris of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Wanger also threw out huge chunks of the federal government's official "biological opinion" on five different species, calling the opinion, which is a guidance document for environmental regulators, "arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful."...Wanger says "the public policy underlying NEPA favors protecting the balance between humans and the environment," by, according to the first purpose listed in the statute, establishing "a national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment." Environmentalists worship NEPA as "the environment's bill of rights" and focus almost entirely on the penalties it provides, while Wanger looks at the whole law. In an earlier decision, for example, he excoriated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency for its to-hell-with-people policy: "Federal defendants completely abdicated their responsibility to consider reasonable alternatives that would not only protect the species, but would also minimize the adverse impact on humans and the human environment."

Unfortunately, Judge Wanger is retiring on Sept. 30.