Jeremy Bruno is a tech writer who blogs about ecology, evolution, conservation and culture at The Voltage Gate. Visit the 
Or polluted water, as it were. Mark Rey, former timber lobbyist and the Bush Administration's overseer of the Forest Service, may be facing jail time if he does not satisfactorily explain why a toxic flame retardant was not properly analyzed before being used in Oregon back in 2003.
According to the AP story, 20,000 fish were killed in Fall Creek by the retardant's primary ingredient, ammonium phosphate, but it is unclear as to the exact mechanism. I'm assuming the chemical caused toxic levels of ammonia in the water, but there's also the possibility of a massive algal bloom depleting dissolved oxygen and suffocating the fish. If anyone has any concrete information on this, I'd appreciate it.
Their negligence was ruled as a violation of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, and many want Rey to be held personally responsible.
Judge Malloy is not too happy about how long this suit has been drawn out, and even accused Rey and company of playing games:
In February 2006, the judge gave the Forest Service until Aug. 8 this year to comply, noting that if they needed more time, they were to contact the plaintiffs well in advance, and not come to him just before the deadline. The request for an extension was filed on the final day."It seems as if the government is playing a not too funny game, betting that the court will be forced to grant the additional time and hoping the irony of the timing will be overlooked," the judge wrote.
Comments
I remember hearing about this back in 05 on TreeHugger. I thought it was just some random treehugging BS that comes around every once in awhile.
Funny thing is I was just talking to my co-worker and I said, "I wonder how many more appointees we are going to find in the next few years that have a negligence problem." This was after we had a conversation about the mine disaster and the appointee getting in trouble for that.
Posted by: Webs | August 22, 2007 4:48 PM
Gee, I'm so shocked that a Bush appointee is in trouble (cough). How much longer do we have to put up this this bunch?
Hang in there with the job hunt!
Posted by: Jennifer | August 22, 2007 9:56 PM