Study Finds Irregularities in Preble’s Delisting Evidence

The U.S. Department of Interior study completed in January – concluding that the Preble's meadow jumping mouse is genetically distinct and requires Endangered Species Act protection – was just accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. This is important news in and of itself, since publication further validates the study’s conclusions and corroborates the findings of yet another new study that last month reached the very same conclusion.

The news is even more interesting, however, because the study's author, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist named Tim King, obtained the exact same specimens that Rob Roy Ramey II used when he began his campaign to eliminate the Preble's meadow jumping mouse's protection. This is important news because King also found what he very politely referred to as "a systemic error in the data." You want to guess what that means? It means that 13 of the 15 mouse specimens he looked at do not contain the genetic sequences reported by Ramey. There is a range of possible explanations for how Ramey might have reported finding genetic sequences that don't seem to exist, but none of them are very flattering for Ramey. So how does Ramey respond? From today's Rocky Mountain News:

The new findings are just "chest-pounding overstatements."

The U.S.D.I. researcher's "station in life seems to be to do scientific colonoscopies."

Almost from the day Ramey first began trying to remove Endangered Species Act protection for the Preble's meadow jumping mouse, scientist after scientist began raising serious concerns about Ramey's methods and his conclusions. These are credible, professional, respected scientists, but rather than addressing their legitimate concerns, Ramey's response has consistently been to deride, attack, and insult. And now it turns out that Ramey’s data itself is corrupt.

Where does that leave us?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is supposed to make a final decision about delisting the Preble's meadow jumping mouse later this summer. If the Bush Administration really cared about good science, as they are so fond of claiming, and if they had any respect at all for the law, their decision would be a no-brainer. Alas, we all know this was never about the science or the law. This is about politics and money.