[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 78 (Thursday, June 7, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1057]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE TRUTH BEHIND THE CARIBOU UPROAR

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 7, 2001

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member commends a May 25, 2001, 
editorial from the Omaha World Herald, regarding the firing of the U.S. 
Geological Survey contract cartographer who posted an Alaskan caribou 
map on the Internet, causing an uproar in the environmental community. 
There was more to this story than originally reported. The information 
in the map was outdated and inaccurate, and the cartographer had no 
expertise or responsibility for caribou studies. The cartographer since 
has become a martyr for environmentalists opposed to drilling in the 
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), albeit under false pretenses.

                         The Purge That Wasn't

              [From the Omaha World-Herald, May 25, 2001]

       Members of Congress have railed about it. More than 80 
     environmental and other groups sent Secretary of the Interior 
     Gale Norton an angry letter in response to it. Foreign 
     newspapers featured breathless coverage of it. An article in 
     a British newspaper concluded that, because of it, the Bush 
     administration ``actually appears to be bear a grudge against 
     the natural world.''
       The hubbub is over Ian Thomas, a cartographer for the U.S. 
     Geological Survey who was fired in March after he posted a 
     map of caribou migrations in the Arctic National Wildlife 
     Refuge, a portion of which the Bush administration has 
     proposed for oil drilling. The geological survey also had the 
     map removed from the Web.
       In their letter to Norton, the 88 environmental and other 
     groups claimed that the firing of Thomas indicated a 
     disturbing politicizing of government research and sent ``a 
     chilling message to all government scientists.''
       The day after he was fired, Thomas accepted a job with the 
     World Wildlife Fund and is now hailed as a martyr to the 
     environmental cause.
       It seems a straightforward story, a tale of nefarious 
     Republican misdeeds and shameless toadying to oil interests. 
     Certainly that was the impression one got from following 
     Garry Trudeau's version of it in ``Doonesbury.'' But, as a 
     Washington Post article explained this week, that now-
     familiar version of events ``isn't the whole story.''
       Examine all the facts, and a host of surprising details pop 
     up. Details, that is, that undercut many of the main 
     accusations against the administration.
       Thomas, for example, was a contract worker, not a full-time 
     civil servant. The caribou map, which Thomas created in 15 
     minutes, was far removed from the scope of his contract and 
     was based on obsolete data.
       Thomas had no expertise in Alaska wildlife matters and had 
     been reprimanded earlier for posting sensitive Pentagon data 
     on the geological survey's Web site.
       As described by The Washington Post, ``the decision to 
     cancel his contract was made not by Norton or any other bush 
     appointee, but by the top biologist at his research center, a 
     self-described liberal Democrat who opposes drilling in the 
     Arctic refuge. Another career bureaucrat--the chief USGS 
     biologist, also a Democrat and a conservationist--made the 
     call to pull the caribou map off the Web.'' No evidence has 
     surfaced, the article said, ``that Norton or her aides played 
     any role in his termination.''
       The geological survey's main experts on Alaskan wildlife 
     are its Alaska-based biologists. When they saw Thomas' map, 
     they expressed consternation that a Maryland-based contract 
     worker, with no expertise in caribou studies, was posting 
     inaccurate, albeit official-looking, material on that topic.
       A geological-survey caribou biologist inquired about the 
     map and subsequently sent Thomas a pointed e-mail message: 
     ``The material you posted is terribly out of date. It is 
     inconceivable that you have posted this outdated material in 
     view of the recent and intense interest in'' the refuge.
       Not that such details appear to matter as far as the 
     episode's actual political fallout. As the Post observed, 
     regardless of the facts, ``the notion that the Bush 
     administration ousted Thomas for political reasons has taken 
     root around the world, thanks to the power of the Internet 
     and the tenacity of environmentalists.''
       This episode, now help up by Bush critics as a cause 
     celebre, illustrates the ability of politics to trample the 
     truth. It is regrettable, but revealing, that so many have 
     rushed to warp the facts.

     

                          ____________________