Category Archives: Obama Administration

Boykoff: Obama’s rhetoric of ‘clean energy’ vs. the reality of climate change

“What do we lose when global warming and climate change get repackaged as clean energy?” asks University of Colorado Prof. Max Boykoff in today’s Washington Post. “We wind up missing a thorough understanding of the breadth of the problem and … Continue reading

Posted in Obama Administration, Science Communication | 1 Comment

US Climate Change Envoy calls Durban climate summit a success

Representing the Obama Administration at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Jonathan Pershing, senior US climate negotiator at the State Department, took a more positive view of the 17th Conference of the Parties in Durban, South Africa, than CSW … Continue reading

Posted in International Climate Policy, Obama Administration | Leave a comment

PEER alleges scientific misconduct at NOAA in lowballing of BP spill rate, traces political pressure to White House

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility has filed a formal allegation of scientific misconduct by a senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, charging that he manipulated and falsified scientific communication to policymakers and the public so as to … Continue reading

Posted in Obama Administration, Science Communication | 1 Comment

“Obama Proposal Could Weaken Key Climate Agency”

“The White House proposal that would move the country’s oceans and atmosphere agency — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — from its current home in the Commerce Department and fold it into the Interior Department, could severely undermine … Continue reading

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Obama’s denial of Keystone XL tar sands pipeline permit was an easy decision, for now

The congressionally imposed 60-day deadline for a permit decision gave President Obama, under pressure from both sides, a different way to get what he had sought earlier: postponing a final decision on the pipeline until after the 2012 election.  Environmentalists … Continue reading

Posted in Activism, Obama Administration | 2 Comments

Don’t disrupt NOAA’s climate change activities with Obama’s proposed agency re-shuffle

“How does it help us with the things we need from NOAA?” we said to ClimateWire, questioning the President’s proposal to subsume the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration into the Department of the Interior. “Is it going to help those … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Science Watch, Obama Administration | 2 Comments

“Inside Story: US 2012” – Are environmental concerns being sacrificed?

“I think we have a situation now where politics are driven by the limits that are set by concentrated corporate power,” CSW director Rick Piltz said as part of a discussion of President Obama’s record on the environment and the … Continue reading

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What to do when the White House sets science aside?

John Holdren says, “as the President’s science and technology advisor, it is my duty to ensure that when science is relevant to policy-making, the very best science—and the best thinking about that science—is at the table for consideration on its … Continue reading

Posted in Obama Administration, Science-Policy Interaction | 1 Comment

NOAA scientific integrity policy, Part 2: Stronger whistleblower protections still needed

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new scientific integrity policy issued in December contains important steps in the right direction. But while NOAA states its support for whistleblower protection in very general terms, the agency made no improvements in its … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Science Watch, Obama Administration, Science Communication, Whistleblowers | Leave a comment

NOAA scientific integrity policy, Part 1: Scientists’ communication freedom still limited by Commerce Dept restrictions

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new scientific integrity policy issued in December contains important steps in the right direction, but Commerce Department restrictions on public communications by NOAA scientists, imposed under the Bush Administration, remain in place.

Posted in Climate Science Watch, Obama Administration, Science Communication | 3 Comments