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 |
Senators call for National Academy auditing of government reports on climate change
Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006
An announcement posted March 29 on Senator Frank Lautenberg’s Web site begins: “In an effort to prevent future government reports dealing with the issue of climate change from being altered by White House political aides, several members of the United States Senate called for all future reports to be audited by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).” Senators Lautenberg, Inouye, and Kerry in a letter sent March 29, urged Dr. James Mahoney, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Director of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, to put in place procedures that would give the NAS oversight for future government climate science reports, including the annual Our Changing Planet report.
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Providence Journal: “NOAA hiding truth about hurricanes, scientists say”
Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006
The Providence [R.I.] Journal looked into charges that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration leadership has misled the public by putting forward a one-sided view on the current scientific debate about the relationship between hurricane intensity and global warming, and by misrepresenting the current state of scientific understanding. They found a NOAA climate scientist who couldn’t talk without a political pre-clearance from NOAA management, and a public affairs officer who steers the press to a scientist who voices what appears to be the agency’s party line.
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White House CEQ Chief of Staff resignation continues federal climate program leadership exodus
Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006
E&ENews PM reported ("CLIMATE: Key White House aide resigns") on March 22 that White House Council on Environmental Quality chief of staff Bryan Hannegan has resigned, “ending speculation he would be President Bush’s choice to replace outgoing NOAA Deputy Administrator James Mahoney.” Hannegan became chief of staff following the resignation in June 2005 of Philip Cooney, who left CEQ for a job at ExxonMobil. His departure continues what appears to be an exodus, or shake-up, of high-level leadership in the federal climate change science and technology programs.
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CBS News “60 Minutes” airs global warming story on “Re-Writing the Science”
Posted on Tuesday, March 21, 2006
On March 19 CBS “60 Minutes” aired the second part of a two-part global warming story. The segment, entitled “Re-Writing the Science,” focused on political impediments to public communication of climate science findings, drawing on interviews with Jim Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Ralph Cicerone, President of the National Academy of Sciences; and Rick Piltz, director of Climate Science Watch.
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Boulder Daily Camera reports on Sen. Inhofe’s NCAR/UCAR inquisition
Posted on Tuesday, March 21, 2006
The Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, Colorado, home of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, reported in a March 18 article on our story about how “U.S. Senator James Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, has asked for detailed information regarding the employees, research projects and funding sources of Boulder’s National Center for Atmospheric Research and its parent organization, the University Center for Atmospheric Research.” But should the Senator really be called a global warming “skeptic”?
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Greenwire report: Sen. Inhofe inquiry into research group funding sparks scientists’ concerns
Posted on Thursday, March 16, 2006
Greenwire (subscription), a daily newsletter on energy and environmental policy, reported in its #1 article on March 16: “An inquiry by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe [R-OK] into the governance and financing of a leading climate research institution has generated waves of concern and speculation among scientists who see it potentially opening a new front in the battle over the flow of climate information to decisionmakers and the public.” The article draws on the March 11 entry on this Weblog and includes comments by CSW director Rick Piltz.
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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.”
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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).
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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.”
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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.”
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