Beach Access and Park Issues
February 15, 2010

Dare County access Web site posts interviews with Mike Berry


Dare County’s Web site, www.preservebeachaccess.org has posted a special, five-part series of interviews with Dr. Mike Berry of Chapel Hill on such issues as the “fiasco” of the consent decree, the lack of science involved in off-road vehicle rulemaking, and why the so-called “best available science” cited by environmental groups and the Park Service just doesn’t measure up.

PreserveBeachAccess.org is supported by the Dare County Board of Commissioners in partnership with the Dare County Tourism Board. It is a “grassroots movement dedicated to Preserving Access to America’s Beaches” and is dedicated to “the basic principle that people and nature can live together in harmony. “

Berry describes himself as a “user” of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore for more than 40 years. He was a senior manager and scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), serving as the Deputy Director of the National Center for Environmental Assessment at Research Triangle Park, N.C. He has taught at the University of North Carolina. Currently he is retired but still active as a writer and science advisor.

He has been a critic of the ORV rulemaking process – during the failed negotiated rulemaking process and in public comments to the Park Service.  And he has written guest columns for The Island Free Press. (Go to the Archives on front page and “google” Dr. Mike Berry.)

He also has his own blog – To the Point – covering beach access issues. You can find it at http://www.drmikeberry.com/
The PreserveBeachAccess Web site covers these issues in the five-part interview with Berry:

•    Get to know Dr. Mike Berry and his scientific and academic background. He explains that there is an "absence of good science for decision makers as the basis for what they do."

•    Dr. Mike Berry calls the consent decree a "fiasco" prepared behind closed doors without public review.
As an environmental scientist, he says it sets a "disturbing precedent."

•    USGS protocol "opinions" are reviewed. He also thanks the Dare County Board of Commissioners.

•    Dr. Berry exposes so-called "best available science," explaining "It does not include flawed science, it does not include incomplete information and it does not include junk science."

•    "Never were the USGS protocols intended to be regulatory mechanisms." Dr. Berry adds, "Until the science is fully openly reviewed and assessed, there will be public distrust."

Go to http://www.preservebeachaccess.org/landingnew/specialdrberry.html to see the interviews.

Also on the Web site, Berry talks about the forthcoming Draft Environmental Impact Statement on ORV rulemaking and why it is so import to the public to be involved in the process.

To see that interview, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehHYHlyHHY8


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