The Interior's Inspector General has just released an investigation it started after NYT story in March 2019 detailing the role Interior Sec. Bernhardt played in blocking the release of a report on how pesticides threaten hundreds of Endangered Species 
Here is the story I wrote in March that led to the Inspector General investigation. Interior staff had concluded three widely used pesticides threatened hundreds of endangered species, ranging from the kit fox to the seaside sparrow. nytimes.com/2019/03/26/us/…
The IG report does two things: first it confirms that Bernhardt, as The NYT reported, played a central role in redirecting the years' long effort by Interior, forcing it to effectively start the effort over again with very different approach.
But most importantly, for Bernhardt, it also concludes that his role in the matter was not improper/violate the ethics codes. NYT story did not assert it was an ethics violation. The story did note Bernhardt as a lobbyist had worked to defend clients on endangered species matters
Here is what our story said on the question of whether Bernhardt did was appropriate. Overall, glad the Interior IG conducted this investigation. Also still glad I wrote the story. Transparency matters. That is what the story was about.
Here is a link to the entire IG report. documentcloud.org/documents/6572…
Here is a story that my NYT colleague @CoralMDavenport wrote today on this IG report, as well as a second investigation by the IG that did find an ethics violation by Douglas W. Domenech, an assistant Interior secretary nytimes.com/2019/12/10/cli…
