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

GAP president Louis Clark: Whistleblowing at work now more dangerous

Posted on Monday, October 08, 2007

The protections for corporate workers established in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which was enacted in the wake of an epidemic of massive corporate fraud, have been gutted by the decisions of judges and bureaucrats.

GAP to honor whistleblowers and defenders at 30th anniversary gala September 26

Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Tomorrow, September 26, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) will celebrate its 30th anniversary and recognize the vital importance of whistleblowing in society. At the event, guest-hosted by Erin Brockovich, GAP will honor several whistleblowers and congressional champions of government accountability, public safety, and whistleblower protections.

Hurricane Center Director Proenza charges NOAA violated Whistleblower Protection Act

Posted on Friday, August 03, 2007

In a letter from his lawyers to officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Bill Proenza, who in July was removed from his position as director of the National Hurricane Center, charges that this action by administration officials violated the Whistleblower Protection Act.

Senate committee advances whistleblower protection bill but leaves out protection for scientists

Posted on Wednesday, June 13, 2007

On June 13 the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced legislation that would restore the mandate of the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA), which has been gutted by judicial activism since 1994. However, while the legislation would strengthen protections for federal whistleblowers who expose waste, fraud and abuse of power, it fails to address scientists who expose the manipulation, distortion, or suppression of their work.

Wolfowitz resignation follows release of multiple documents by the Government Accountability Project

Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is leaving the international organization in the wake of wide-ranging scandals following the release of multiple internal Bank documents by the Government Accountability Project (GAP). This debacle shows the need for a whistleblower protection policy at the Bank. Climate Science Watch is a program of GAP. On April 26 we posted a news report on a Wolfowitz deputy’s efforts to undercut climate change text in a World Bank strategy paper. See Details for the full text of GAP’s press release.

C-Span webcast of Whistleblower Week panel on “Scientific Integrity and Individual Conscience”

Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007

C-Span has an archived webcast of the May 14 Washington Whistleblower Week panel on “Scientific Integrity and Individual Conscience.”

Whistleblower Week in Washington: Panel on “Scientific Integrity & Individual Conscience”

Posted on Wednesday, May 09, 2007

CSW Director Rick Piltz will participate on a panel on “Scientific Integrity & Individual Conscience” to help kick off “Whistleblower Week in Washington,” May 14-18, a week of activities designed to promote protections for government and corporate whistleblowers. This is billed as the largest gathering of whistleblowers and related public interest groups in U.S. history. We invite you to attend the events.

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.

House approves landmark whistleblower legislation with protection for scientific freedom

Posted on Saturday, March 17, 2007

The Government Accountability Project (GAP) hailed the March 14 House of Representatives floor vote approving H.R. 985, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, legislation that overhauls federal whistleblower law. Among its numerous provisions, the bill would create specific protection in the law for scientific freedom, making it an abuse of authority to censor, obstruct dissemination, or misrepresent the results of federal research. For the last seven years, GAP has led a campaign working toward this reform’s enactment. The margin of victory is large enough to overcome a veto threatened by the administration

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 Committee Unanimously Approves Whistleblower Protections

Posted on Friday, February 16, 2007

The Government Accountability Project has been working seven years for the reforms to overhaul the law protecting federal government whistleblowers approved by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee February 14. The bill would extend anti-retaliation rights to those who call attention to the politicization of science by Administration officials.

House Committee set to approve landmark whistleblower rights legislation

Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007

The Government Accountability Project (GAP) applauds the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for advancing the most significant whistleblower rights legislation in U.S. history.

“Science Fiction”—PBS “America’s Investigative Reports” program on science reporter Paul Thacker

Posted on Thursday, November 09, 2006

The next episode of the PBS “America’s Investigative Reports” program, titled “Science Fiction,” will feature investigative science reporter Paul Thacker, who has published significant stories on global warming deniers and censorship of climate science. Paul published a good interview with CSW director Rick Piltz in June 2005 in Environmental Science & Technology, a publication for which he worked as Associate Editor until recently forced out of his position. The program airs in the Washington, DC, area on Friday, November 10 and Monday, November 13.

Bush: String leakers up by the thumbs, as we do with prisoners at Guantanamo

Posted on Monday, November 06, 2006

A new book may shed light on President George W. Bush’s true feelings toward whistleblowers, or at least toward those “leakers” who expose his administration’s alleged illegal and questionable activity. According to the former Canadian prime minister’s chief of staff, Mr. Bush explained how he would personally handle government leaks. Reportedly, Mr. Bush stated, “If I catch anyone who leaks in my government, I would like to string them up by the thumbs. The same way we do with prisoners in Guantanamo.” (From an Op-ed by Government Accountability Project President Louis Clark.)

“Stealth repeal” of Clean Water Act whistleblower protections could affect science reporting

Posted on Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Citing legal documents obtained by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) showing how “the Bush administration has reversed two decades of precedent and declared that important whistleblower protections in the Clean Water Act do not apply to federal workers,” the science journal Nature called the administration’s action “pernicious.” Nature says scientists could feel the chilling effect particularly strongly, and calls government whistleblowers “a key defence against further erosion of environmental standards.”

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