Former oyster farm owner Kevin Lunny was among four panelists who testified yesterday in Washington, D.C., before a newly formed investigative subcommittee of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
The hearing, chaired by conservative Texas Republican Louie Gohmert, was titled “Zero Accountability: The Consequences of Politically Driven Science,” and highlighted three cases in which federal agencies were accused of using questionable science in policy decisions. The hearing played out largely along partisan lines, with Republicans asking sympathetic questions of the panelists affected by agencies, while Democrats, including Rep. Jared Huffman, argued or implied that championing good science is a curious cause for Republicans, who are known for underfunding government scientific research, among other critiques of the spirit of the hearing.
Mr. Lunny’s testimony and responses to follow-up questions from subcommittee members is familiar territory for those in West Marin who followed his fight with the Point Reyes National Seashore to secure a lease renewal for the oyster farm in Drakes Estero, which was designated “potential wilderness” in the 1970s. He brought up the debate around seal impacts, the hundreds of thousands of photographs taken without his knowledge, the sound of jet skis as a proxy for sound impacts and his overall belief that the park used bad science to justify not renewing his lease. After a failed legal battle, he signed a settlement agreement in the fall of 2014 and shut down on Dec. 31.
“The park engaged in a taxpayer-funded enterprise of corruption to run a small business out of Point Reyes,” he told the subcommittee.
But Rep. Jared Huffman opposed what he called a one-sided hearing attacking federal agencies not present to defend themselves. “They have not invited the government agencies being accused of all this stuff to tell their side of the story, so this is not a credible forum for exploring…what constitutes good science,” Rep. Huffman told the Light, a sentiment he reiterated at the hearing.
He said Mr. Lunny had not always been treated fairly and that environmental harms were overstated, but he also pushed back on the idea of “zero” accountability, noting that reviews had been undertaken by the National Academy of Sciences, the Marine Mammal Commission, the federal court system and others. (Those reviews were not necessarily friendly to the park; an Inspector General’s report found that “misconduct arose from incomplete and biased evaluation and from blurring the line between exploration and advocacy through research.”)
At one point, Mr. Lunny was asked by a House representative about the ranch planning process that is now underway. He responded that ranchers are “terrified” about the environmental review process. But Rep. Huffman argued that it was a good-faith effort, adding, “I think we’re litigating these old accusations for a matter that has been closed at a time when this community is trying to move on.”