by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
As appearing in the Daily Sentinel
In 2021 President Biden nominated Martha Williams to run the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Several powerful environmental industry groups objected and several lobbied intensely against Senate confirmation. This is a position once considered mostly nonpartisan, and historically held by scientists, not political activists. So, a political battle over that nomination has only happened twice in the past, first with President Trump’s nominee and then with Biden’s. Is this the way it will be from now on?
Since the Pendleton Act of 1883 created the civil service, there has been an understanding of federal agencies as nonpolitical, staffed by experts hired and promoted based on merit and not connections. Even many political appointees are required to be subject experts. Maybe not the White House chief of staff, but some agencies by their nature require knowledge of the subject matter. Indeed, the 1940 law creating the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, while providing a director appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, requires that the appointee be a scientist. Title 16, U.S. Code, Section 742b: “No individual may be appointed as the Director unless he is, by reason of scientific education and experience, knowledgeable in the principles of fisheries and wildlife management.”
Note the requirement for BOTH scientific education AND experience, not either/or. Martha Williams has neither. She is a lawyer, who also has a BA in philosophy. Still, she was confirmed by the Senate, with supporters rationalizing that the Senate is the ultimate arbiter of who is and is not qualified.
Two years later, dozens of scientists from universities and the environmental industry have begun a new push to remove Williams, saying she lacks the required educational background, despite her Senate approval. More than 100 scientists signed a letter to Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland demanding Williams’ removal. They say she is the first USFWS director to lack the required scientific training. That is not precisely true, so maybe that horse already left the barn.
