The Interior Department’s Inspector General will begin a preliminary investigation of possible fraud by National Park Service staff in relation to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Drake’s Bay Oyster Company, a spokesperson for the office said. The inquiry, which comes in response to a complaint filed by Dr. Corey Goodman on April 24, will look into whether evidence can be found that park officials and their private contractors falsely represented and concealed data, and deceived both the public and peer reviewers of the impact statement.
This will be the second time in less than five years that allegations of criminal activity have brought the Inspector General to Point Reyes National Seashore.
A spokesman for the Inspector General said the inquiry will examine whether park staff followed correct procedures; it will not include an examination of the integrity of the science itself. If evidence of procedural abnormality or misconduct is found, an official investigation will then be launched to determine whether or not that activity was criminal.