Rahall to hold hearings on Cheney misdeed

by: Carnacki

Thu Jul 05, 2007 at 15:56:38 PM EDT

On June 27, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), along with 35 California and Oregon members of Congress, called for congressional hearings on Vice President Dick Cheney’s involvement in the political decision that killed 80,000 spawning salmon. They made this request to House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV) after a Washington Post investigative report found that Cheney pressured mid-level bureaucrats in the Department of Interior to divert water from the Klamath River Basin for political gain.

The following day, Rahall announced he will hold a hearing. In response to the Congressional letter, Rahall released the following statement:

“This committee has already begun examining the penchant for this administration to favor politics over science in the implementation of the Endangered Species Act, which was highlighted during a May 9th hearing and in the resignation of the Interior Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks over the fiasco.

“In light of the revelations being made over the situation in the Klamath River Basin, it is my intention to again convene the committee to delve into the issues raised by the members of Congress from California and Oregon. It certainly appears this administration will stop at nothing to achieve political gain from natural resources disasters. Ultimately, it will be hardworking Americans and their healthy environment that will lose if we fail to act.”

Congressional oversight was sorely lacking when Republicans like rubberstamp Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-Vulnerable) were in charge in Congress.