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

Censorship of Government Scientists

The ability of our society and public officials to make good decisions about climate change depends on uncensored and unimpeded communication about the findings of scientific research and scientifically based assessments of key issues.

Wolfowitz deputy’s efforts to undercut climate change text in World Bank strategy paper

Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007

One of Paul Wolfowitz’s two handpicked deputies, Juan José Daboub, tried to water down references to climate change in one of the World Bank’s main environmental strategy papers, the bank’s chief scientist Robert Watson told the Financial Times. In Dr. Watson, Daboub picked the wrong person to try to get around in Cooney-izing climate change text in an official report.

GAP and UCS call on Commerce Dept. to suspend new restrictive media policy

Posted on Monday, April 23, 2007

April 23—In a letter to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today attacked a new media policy affecting all departmental employees, including climate change scientists and meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The policy was presented last month and was described as institutionalizing recent advances in scientific freedom at the Department of Commerce (DOC), including NOAA.

Bush administration is #1 on 2007 annual list of Jefferson Muzzle “winners”

Posted on Saturday, April 21, 2007

The “unprecedented degree of political interference in communicating government-funded scientific research to the public” has earned the Bush Administration a 2007 Jefferson Muzzle from the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression.

House Science Committee takes a step toward protecting honest climate science communication

Posted on Friday, March 30, 2007

At its March 28 hearing on “Shaping the Message, Distorting the Science,” the House Science Investigation & Oversight Subcommittee considered testimony based on two reports—one, released March 27, that documents in detail how administration political officials have manipulated climate science communication, and the other a recent report that documents the global warming disinformation campaign funded by ExxonMobil. The witnesses who spoke about these reports made excellent recommendations designed to ensure the protection of federal climate scientists and undercut the disinformation campaign.

GAP issues in-depth report on political interference at climate science research agencies

Posted on Tuesday, March 27, 2007

On March 27 the Government Accountability Project (GAP) released a comprehensive report, Redacting the Science of Climate Change, detailing the findings of a year-long investigation into how federal agency media policies and practices and other forms of political interference have negatively affected the flow of climate change science communication from publicly funded research. The report focuses especially on problems at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The investigation incorporated dozens of interviews and a comprehensive review of thousands of Freedom of Information Act disclosures, internal documents, and public records. See the full report here.

ABCnews.com: “Exclusive: Report Charges Broad White House Efforts to Stifle Climate Research”

Posted on Tuesday, March 27, 2007

ABCnews.com reported: “Bush administration officials throughout the government have engaged in White House-directed efforts to stifle, delay or dampen the release of climate change research that casts the White House or its policies in a bad light, says a new [Government Accountability Project] report that purports to be the most comprehensive assessment to date of the subject.”

House Science Committee chairs question 11 federal agencies about science media openness policies

Posted on Saturday, March 17, 2007

Following their letter last Friday to the Secretary of the Interior, House Science Committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) and Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Brad Miller (D-NC) sent letters on March 15 to the Administrators of eleven federal agencies about their science media policies. The Chairmen’s earlier letter to Interior sought an explanation of such practices in the wake of reports that federal scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have been barred from discussing “climate change, polar bears and sea ice.” “Although we were assured that this Administration’s policies on scientific openness had been changed, it appears that not all agencies got the message,” said Chairman Miller.

GAP letter to the NOAA Administrator on criteria for media policy reform

Posted on Tuesday, March 13, 2007

The Government Accountability Project has sent a letter to Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator, detailing GAP’s recommendations on NOAA’s media policy reform. GAP is urging that NOAA enact a policy that eases and clarifies the flow of information to the press from NOAA scientists; makes federal scientists aware of their First Amendment right to speak to the media as citizens about any subject; gets rid of mandatory pre-approval and various other politicizing impediments to public communication by scientists that NOAA has engaged in; ensures that the ultimate decision about the content of and parties to any particular media communication lies with the reporter and the scientist whom the reporter requests; and avoids several shortcomings of the reformed NASA media policy, including its failure to comply with the requirements of the Whistleblower Protection Act. Click on “Details” for full text.

House Oversight Committee to hold second hearing on political interference with climate science

Posted on Tuesday, March 13, 2007

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has scheduled another full committee hearing to examine allegations of political interference with government climate change science, to be held on Monday, March 19, 2007 in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building. Stay tuned. We anticipate that this will be a hearing not to be missed.

Panel at National Press Club agrees the public’s right to know is frequently compromised

Posted on Tuesday, March 13, 2007

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s article on “Sunshine Week 2007”—“Rick Piltz, founder of Climate Science Watch...cited a recent study saying that polar bears are endangered because of disappearing sea ice. But the Bush administration, he said, insisted the study had nothing to do with global warming.”

Open the Government, Sunshine Week 2007: “Closed Doors; Open Democracies?”

Posted on Sunday, March 11, 2007

Climate Science Watch will participate in a Sunshine Week 2007 program focused on access to government information, including the impact of government suppression and manipulation of scientific information on public health and safety—and accountability. The event will be held at the National Press Club on Monday, March 12, and webcast to dozens of sites around the country.

Closed Doors; Open Democracies? A national dialogue on government openness

Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007

On March 12 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Climate Science Watch will be represented on a panel addressing issues of access to government information, including the impact of government suppression and manipulation of scientific information on public health and safety—and accountability at the federal and the state and local levels. This Sunshine Week 2007 event will be Webcast to sites around the country.

Major First Amendment groups condemn government censorship of science about global warming

Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007

Nine prominent First Amendment organizations issued a statement warning of the consequences of suppression or distortion of information that is essential to sound public policy and government accountability and applauding the January 30 House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on political interference with federal climate scientists. The statement was organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship.

Investigation Documents Political Interference with Climate Science Communication

Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2007

An investigative report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the Government Accountability Project (GAP) has uncovered new evidence of widespread political interference in federal climate science.

10,600 scientists have signed statement condemning Administration political interference in science

Posted on Sunday, December 24, 2006

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) announced at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union that a statement by Nobel laureates and other leading scientists calling for the restoration of scientific integrity to federal policy making has now been signed by 10,600 scientists from all 50 states. The director of the UCS Scientific Integrity Program called on the new Congress to “enact meaningful reforms so decisions within federal scientific agencies and advisory committees are based on objective and unbiased science.” Climate Science Watch will call the new Congress’ attention to how this principle should be applied to holding the Administration accountable for ensuring the integrity of communication about climate change research.

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