ClimateScienceWatch

Promoting integrity in the use of climate science in government

Climate Science Watch is a nonprofit public interest education and advocacy project dedicated to holding public officials accountable for the integrity and effectiveness with which they use climate science and related research in government policymaking, toward the goal of enabling society to respond effectively to the challenges posed by global warming and climate change. See Details

285 NASA scientists and engineers sign statement of support for Jim Hansen and open public dialogue

Posted on Thursday, March 16, 2006

As of noon on March 16, 285 NASA scientists and engineers have signed a ”Statement of support for NASA’s commitment to openness.” The statement “fully supports Dr. Hansen in his professional capacity to continue alerting the public about global warming” and encourages “all NASA affiliated scientists and engineers to openly present their expertise for the public good.”

Senator Inhofe Launches Inquisition Probing Climate Research Organization

Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006

In a letter dated 24 February 2006, Republican Senator James Inhofe has asked the National Science Foundation for detailed information about the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, including details about employees and contractors… We provide the full text of the letter (also available as PDF file).

Former NOAA Lab Director: “Climate scientists within NOAA have been prevented from speaking freely”

Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006

In response to media attention to restrictions on public communication by climate scientists of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce Under Secretary Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher, the NOAA Administrator, issued a message on 14 February 2006 on scientific openness. The message is posted here, preceded by the response of Jerry Mahlman, former director for 16 years of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey.

Mahlman says: “Contrary to Dr. Lautenbacher’s assertions, I state emphatically that climate scientists within NOAA have indeed recently been systematically prevented from speaking freely. A number of NOAA scientists have directly and openly disagreed with Lautenbacher’s statements that deny his direct connection with censorship of climate science.”

Former NOAA Lab Director: U.S. in “state of deep denial” on global warming

Posted on Sunday, March 05, 2006

In Warm, Warmer, Warmest, a column on global warming by Nicholas Kristof published in the New York Times on 5 March 2006, Kristof concludes that “our political system is paralyzed in the face of what may be the single biggest challenge to our planet.”

Senate committee lets Adm. Lautenbacher off the hook on NOAA media restrictions

Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2006

At a February 16 oversight committee hearing (video file; hearing begins at 17:50) on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fiscal year 2007 budget request, the Senate served up another example of the shortcomings of Congressional oversight of the administration’s handling of global warming. At a time of emerging outspokenness by federal climate scientists and increased media attention to political interference with public communication by scientists at NASA and NOAA, Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher, the NOAA Administrator, was allowed to dance away from a couple of general inquiries with evasive and misleading replies, with no follow-up from the committee. The hearing was held on the same day the Wall Street Journal ran an article citing a “growing outcry from climate researchers in [NOAAs] own ranks.”

Our question for the NOAA scientists among our readers: What do you think of the Admiral’s statements?

American Meteorological Society statement on freedom of scientific expression

Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2006

In the wake of recent media coverage of the problem of political interference with public communication by federal climate scientists, the AMS Council on February 17 adopted a statement that says, in part: “The ability of scientists to present their findings to the public without censorship, intimidation, or political interference is imperative.” The AMS should follow up by monitoring whether media and public communications policies for climate scientists at NASA and NOAA are consistent with the statement.

Sen. Mikulski’s letter requesting GAO report on openness in federal science communication

Posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) has requested a review by the congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO) of the policies and practices of federal science agencies to ensure openness in scientific communication. Mikulski is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over more than 80 percent of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program budget and also the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The request specifically refers to allegations that climate scientists at NASA and NOAA are restricted in their public communications. Climate Science Watch will provide, as appropriate, information from our investigation that we have found useful in understanding this problem.

EPA continues to screen all interviews with scientists

Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006

Despite growing concerns about political interference with science, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is requiring prior headquarters approval for all communications by its scientists with the media, according to an internal EPA e-mail that was released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The document in PDF format: EPA_media_email_15Feb06.pdf

Jim Hansen: NOAA “by fiat” put out “biased information” on hurricanes

Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Jim Hansen of NASA made a presentation (5.1 MB download) on February 10 at a conference on Politics and Science in New York City. In the talk he said: “NOAA took an official position that global warming was not the cause of hurricane intensification, and as the public was glued to their television listening to reports from the Hurricane Center, that is the main message the public received. The topic is a complex one that the scientific community is working on, but it seems that the public, by fiat, received biased information. NOAA scientists were told not to dispute the Hurricane Center conclusion in public.”

The NOAA Media Policy: Political pre-approval for public communication by scientists

Posted on Tuesday, February 14, 2006

The official NOAA Media Policy establishes a procedure that requires pre-clearance of contacts between NOAA scientists and the media. Under this policy, the NOAA Public Affairs office is designated as responsible for coordinating and approving media communications involving NOAA, including advisories, press releases, interviews, and other related media contacts. NOAA’s policy establishes a framework for politicization of decisions about public communication by federal climate scientists.

Censorship of Federal Climate Scientists: The Critical Case of Jim Hansen

Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006

Jim Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, has challenged the Bush administrations effort to prevent him from speaking freely about his analysis of the dangers of global warming and the potentially catastrophic consequences of climate disruption. What Hansen is saying and doing is especially significant at this juncture, as an example of the vital public role of citizen-scientists—those who speak from a position of scientific expertise to play a role in the broader public discourse. Scientists, including federal scientists, should be supported in playing such a role, not threatened with “dire consequences.” If we can establish the principle of freedom of public communication by federal climate scientists, unimpeded by political and ideological pressure, then others may be emboldened to also come forward into a more open public discourse.

About Climate Science Watch

Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Climate Science Watch is a nonprofit public interest education and advocacy project dedicated to holding public officials accountable for the integrity and effectiveness with which they use climate science and related research in government policymaking, toward the goal of enabling society to respond effectively to the challenges posed by global warming and climate change.

Climate Science Watch is a program of the
Government Accountability Project
1612 K Street, NW Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006

Links

Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006

In this posting, we provide links to a few key Web sites.

How to make a donation

Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Climate Science Watch is dedicated to holding public officials accountable for using climate science with integrity and for effectively translating climate change research into policy and action. Working cooperatively with a network of allies and supporters we can advance this mission, but we need help from people like you to support the work of carrying out investigations and research, reporting our findings, diagnosing problems and advocating solutions, communicating with public officials, the science community, and the news media, and developing this Weblog and other projects.

Your tax-deductible donation will help make it possible to develop Climate Science Watch as a knowledgeable, low-overhead public interest education and advocacy project with an independent voice. We will not sell or trade personal information about our supporters.

BBC Radio-4: “Science Blacklist”

Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006

Science Blacklist was aired on BBC Radio-4 in the UK and internationally on January 3 and January 8, 2006. Part of the program dealt with climate change and included interviews with Rick Piltz, Climate Science Watch; Robert Walker, lobbyist and former Republican Chair of the House Committee on Science; and Myron Ebell, Competitive Enterprise Institute.

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