"Sound science" or sounds good science? Though our nation's environmental protections—our laws and regulations—are intended to ensure the preservation of air, water and wildlife, just the opposite is happening under the Bush Administration. In an effort to enhance corporate profits and marginalize the public interest, the Bush administration has distorted science as a means of weakening regulations.

The tactics used by the Bush Administration include censoring independent scientific research, manipulating or ignoring data, silencing government biologists, attacking watchdog groups that counter the political meddling, and finally by stacking the deck with industry biostitutes whose scientific integrity extends no further than their paycheck. These tactics threaten the very foundations of the scientific enterprise and are ultimately a blow to the rational world view upon which our world functions.

During the last years, the Bush Administration and the federal agencies that are charged with protecting our land, water, wildlife air and health have built a saddeningly impressive record of assaults on science. In addition, certain federal employees like Dale Hall, Southwest Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have been proud architects of the attacks on science. Forest Guardians is currently compiling a list of examples of the Bush Administration's "sounds good science" that have occurred in the greater Southwest.

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If you have examples or stories you'd like to share, e-mail our Conservation Director, Nicole Rosmarino.