Cramer Questions US Fish and Wildlife Service Director on Redacted Information

Press Release

Today Congressman Kevin Cramer questioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on its lack of transparency and inconsistent redactions of information requested by Congress. For more than a year, the FWS has delayed fulfilling requests for documents providing insight into its enforcement of wildlife laws. The Obama Administration has also been selective in determining which energy producers are investigated or prosecuted under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA) and other laws.

At the hearing held by the Natural Resources Committee, Cramer asked FWS Director Dan Ashe why his agency has redacted vast amounts of information when providing documents to Congress, while redacting significantly less when providing the same documents to bird conservation groups as well as the national media. At the same time, Ashe has claimed the requests are "draining [his] time and capacity to be responsive."

"It's intriguing to me that more work goes into redacting a document than to simply photocopy it and have an intern run it over," said Cramer. "Wouldn't it be quicker to be transparent, rather than the other way around? We are talking about documents that have already been provided to someone else, un-redacted, and you went through the work of redacting it later."

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