Washington (CNN) While serving as the Interior Department's deputy secretary, President Donald Trump's current pick for the department's top post led an effort to stop the release of a report on the risks pesticides pose to endangered species, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Citing 84,000 pages of department documents obtained by the paper via Freedom of Information Act requests, the Times reported that in October 2017, David Bernhardt directed political appointees at the department to block a report from the Fish and Wildlife Service -- which is under the control of the department -- that found two pesticides "were so toxic that they 'jeopardize the continued existence' of more than 1,200 endangered birds, fish and other animals and plants, a conclusion that could lead to tighter restrictions on use of the chemicals," according to the paper.

The Times said that instead of releasing the report, the appointees, at the direction of Bernhardt, "set in motion a new process intended to apply a much narrower standard to determine the risks from the pesticides."

The paper reported that the new approach from Bernhardt, a former fossil fuels lobbyist who currently serves as the department's acting secretary, was "one that pesticide makers and users had lobbied intensively to promote."

Citing department records, the Times said that as deputy secretary, Bernhardt "had nine meetings or calls on his schedule with Fish and Wildlife staff in October and November 2017, and helped write the letter saying the Interior Department was no longer prepared to release the draft."

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