Who'da thunkit? A high DoI official puts the interests of extractive industries and industrial agriculture above endangered species. Yeah, shock and awe and all that.

A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has rejected staff scientists' recommendations to protect imperiled animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act at least six times in the past three years, documents show.

In addition, staff complaints that their scientific findings were frequently overruled or disparaged at the behest of landowners or industry have led the agency's inspector general to look into the role of Julie MacDonald, who has been deputy assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife and parks since 2004, in decisions on protecting endangered species.

Now as I write, 11 p.m. CST, this is high on the front page of WaPo.com. However if you look at the cutline it is appearing on an inside page--A3--in tomorrow morning's dead tree edition. Which makes me suspect that by morning it will also no longer be on the front WaPo website page. That makes it a Sunday Night Data Dump entry. Read more…