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

Whistleblowers

Anyone Can Whistle: The Essential Role of the Whistleblower in American Society

Posted on Saturday, February 20, 2010

On February 17 the Government Accountability Project teamed up with Participant Media and the Paley Center for Media in New York City for a televised, long-format special featuring legendary whistleblowers. The program detailed and analyzed what whistleblowers are, the six stages of whistleblowing they typically experience, and their lack of legal protections. Noted guests for the event included Daniel Ellsberg, former FDA commissioner David Kessler, former NYPD whistleblower Frank Serpico, FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley, and others. See Details for more information and link to video of the event.

Shameful treatment of whistleblower who exposed Pentagon failure to protect troops in Iraq

Posted on Thursday, December 24, 2009

Marine Corps whistleblower Franz Gayl says military officials are trying to force him from his job for exposing the Pentagon’s unconscionable delays in delivering lifesaving equipment to troops in Iraq. This shameful treatment suggests that the White House has yet to fulfill Obama’s campaign pledge to see to it that whistleblowers are treated as patriots instead of pariahs.

Two whistleblowers who exposed misconduct further endangering Katrina victims are honored today

Posted on Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Two courageous individuals will each receive meritorious awards today for blowing the whistle on two separate instances of misconduct that put Hurricane Katrina victims in unnecessary jeopardy, reports Government Accountability Project colleague Jess Radack on the Daily Kos today. Maria Garzino, a mechanical/civil engineer and team leader with the US Army Corps of Engineers, will receive the Public Servant of the Year award from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel for exposing the intentional installation of faulty pumps in flood-prone areas of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Ivor van Heerden will receive an award for civic courage for speaking out against systematic incompetence and negligence in planning and preparing for Gulf coast hurricanes, despite resistance from his former employer, Louisiana State University. Click on details for the crosspost.

New Orleans pumps unsafe on Katrina anniversary, report concludes: Army Corps preparedness cover-up?

Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009

The mainstream media, including the New York Times and the New Orleans Times-Picayune, have not covered an independent evaluation recently released by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) that there are serious safety and reliability issues with hydraulic pumps that were installed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The Government Accountability Project (GAP) says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is misrepresenting the situation and failing in preparedness to protect New Orleans in the event of another hurricane.

NASA climate scientist Jim Hansen arrested today for civil disobedience against WV coal mining

Posted on Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Breaking news…. Along with actress Daryl Hannah, 94-year old former US Congressman Ken Hechler, coal mining activist Judy Bonds, and dozens of others protesting mountaintop removal for coal mining, Dr. James Hansen was arrested this afternoon for trespassing onto the private property of Massey Energy Company in Coal River Valley, West Virginia. Hansen is slated to debate Massey CEO Don Blankenship tomorrow on climate change and coal burning (see yesterday’s post). Now it is unclear whether the debate will proceed; Blankenship has not confirmed despite his instigating challenge to Hansen late last week, nor has Massey issued a statement about the arrest. Media links below.

Update on defense strategy in the Tim DeChristopher monkey-wrench BLM oil lease case

Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009

You be the judge. The University of Utah student who threw a monkey wrench into a controversial oil and gas land lease auction administered by the Bureau of Land Management by buying up parcels he couldn’t afford and now faces severe jail time and fines is working up his legal defense for a July trial that is referred to in legal circles as “necessity” or “choice of evils.” His lawyers are betting that DeChristopher will be able to satisfy four legal requirements in mounting a successful defense.

GAP testifies at House hearing for government whistleblowers

Posted on Friday, May 15, 2009

At a May 14 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on whistleblower protection, Government Accountability Project legal director Tom Devine called for quick action on the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, HR 1507, a bill that would give federal workers the right to jury trials when they are harassed for blowing the whistle on waste, fraud, and abuse.

Jim Hansen rallies for monkey-wrench activist Tim DeChristopher at his arraignment today in Utah

Posted on Tuesday, April 28, 2009

NASA climate scientist James Hansen is in Utah today to speak at a rally in support of University of Utah economics student Tim DeChristopher as he faces arraignment at 11:45 am MDT (1:45 pm EDT) in Salt Lake City. DeChristopher was charged with two felony counts, each carrying up to five years in prison and a possible $750,000 fine, after he intervened in an oil lease auction held by the Bureau of Land Management in December 2008 by bidding on parcels he knew he could not afford (see our April 15 post). The sales were later canceled by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar who questioned BLM’s handling of the sale in the last days of the Bush administration. Hansen will argue that this creative act of nonviolent civil disobedience was a legitimate act of moral protest, justified by the urgent need to rapidly curtail CO2 emissions primarily from coal and oil combustion. The outcome of the arraignment will be posted later today on DeChristopher’s website.

Update: DeChristopher plead “not guilty” to two felonies at his April 28 arraignment; the trial date is set for July 6, 2009.

Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize to whistleblower Thomas Tamm for exposing secret wiretapping program

Posted on Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Former Justice Department lawyer Thomas Tamm will be awarded The 2009 Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on April 16. Tamm courageously exposed the existence of the government’s secret warrantless wiretapping program to the New York Times. This year’s 6th annual Ridenhour Prizes also will go to Bob Herbert, New York Times columnist; Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals; and reporter Nick Turse, author of “A My Lai a Month.”

Should Utah student activist Tim DeChristopher go to jail for nonviolent monkey-wrench tactics?

Posted on Wednesday, April 15, 2009

On Friday December 19, 2008, University of Utah economics student and environmental activist Tim DeChristopher, 27, made a spur-of-the-moment decision to disrupt a controversial Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oil lease auction by bidding on parcels of land near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, bidding on land he knew he could not afford, driving up prices, and winning about 22,500 acres worth $1.8 million. He was summarily arrested for this monkey-wrench variety of civil disobedience and has said he is willing to risk jail time as a result of his actions. One of the Obama administration’s first actions was to cancel the questionable sale, making his purchases moot, but now DeChristopher has been indicted on two felony counts and faces up to 10 years in prison. Will justice be served by turning DeChristopher into a criminal?

Whistleblower TV now available online

Posted on Monday, April 06, 2009

“Whistle Where You Work,“ produced by the Government Accountability Project, is a multimedia program focusing on issues of accountability. All episodes of the 30-minute program may now be viewed online. In “The Assault on Scientific Integrity,” part of Episode #4 in the series, GAP Executive Director Mark Cohen interviewed Francesca Grifo of the Union of Concerned Scientists and Rick Piltz of Climate Science Watch during the fall 2008 election campaign.

National Whistleblower Assembly kicks off this weekend

Posted on Friday, March 06, 2009

This year’s annual Washington, D.C. whistleblower gathering and conference, the National Whistleblower Assembly (NWA), begins this Sunday, March 8, with events running through Wednesday, March 11. These events are open to the public, free of charge. See Details for schedule.

Stimulus bill gives whistleblower rights to contractor employees, fails to protect federal workers

Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009

The final economic stimulus agreement includes “best practices” anti-retaliation rights for any workers at recipients of the new federal spending, including contractors, grantees, and state and local government employees. But Senate conferees killed a provision in the House bill that would have extended essential whistleblower rights to federal government workers.

262 organizations call on Obama and Congress to restore strong whistleblower rights

Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009

Climate Science Watch added our name to a call by a public interest coalition for President Obama and Congress to support swift action on legislation to restore a credible, comprehensive Whistleblower Protection Act for federal employees. This petition is also particularly timely for the pending $825 billion stimulus bill.

Washington Post, once a beacon for whistleblowers, now attacks whistleblower protections

Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009

The Washington Post’s February 2 editorial calling for whistleblower protections to be stripped from the economic stimulus bill is a stain on the record of a newspaper that once published the Watergate revelations and the Pentagon Papers.

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