Comment Floods Manufacture Policy Consensus

Activist networks can orchestrate mass sign‑on letters and form‑comments that overwhelm agency inboxes, creating an apparent one‑sided 'public sentiment' on contested land uses. FOIA logs to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland showed only anti‑ranching messages before Point Reyes planning, while earlier oyster‑farm fights saw duplicated comments presented as public outcry. Agencies and courts may then cite this skewed record to justify eliminating traditional uses. — If public‑comment processes are easily gamed, administrative legitimacy and environmental policy need guardrails to distinguish genuine public input from manufactured consensus.