Rep. Issa Accuses Park Service of ‘Misconduct’ in Trying to Close Business

Rep. Darrell Issa is questioning the science that the federal National Park Service is using to try to shutter a century-old oyster farm in California, reports HumanEvents.com.

“It has come to my attention that scientific misconduct by National Park Service personnel may be jeopardizing the right of a small business to operate in Marin County,” the California Republican wrote to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, cited allegations from several unnamed parties suggesting that the park service “knowingly relied on flawed science” in its efforts the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. The park service contends that the company’s activities threaten local seal populations around Point Reyes National Seashore, near San Francisco.

If the allegations are true, the park service “will have closed the doors of a family-owned small business without a valid scientific basis,” Issa wrote.

Park service research also has come under fire from the National Research Council, which stated in a May 2009 report that the agency “never achieved a rigorous and balanced synthesis of the impacts from oyster farming.”

Issa demands the release of documents and correspondence related to the park service research, as well as interviews with agency officials before the oversight committee.