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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 |
Congressional Oversight
15 House Committee Chairmen urge Bush to stop efforts to weaken G-8 climate change declaration
Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007
On May 18 fifteen House Committee Chairmen sent a letter calling on the President to stop U.S. efforts to weaken a proposed G-8 declaration on global climate change. A draft of the declaration leaked to the press showed that the U.S. pushed for changes that would delete text on targets for reducing greenhouse gases, on environmental impacts and security implications of climate change, and on the need for urgent action.
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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.
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House Science Committee hearing March 28 on media strategies to distort climate science
Posted on Tuesday, March 27, 2007
The House Science Investigations & Oversight Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Wednesday, March 28, on “Shaping the Message, Distorting the Science: Media Strategies to Influence Public Policy.” Witnesses testifying at the hearing will include Tarek Maassarani, attorney with the Government Accountability Project (our parent organization). GAP is releasing a new, in-depth investigative report documenting in detail how policies and practices at federal research agencies have restricted the flow of scientific information getting to the public.
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House Oversight Committee hearing March 19 will be broadcast live on C-SPAN TV and radio
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007
According to the C-SPAN Web site, the March 19 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on “Allegations of Political Interference with Government Climate Change Science (Part II)” will be broadcast live at 10:00 a.m. on C-SPAN TV. We also understand the hearing will be broadcast live on C-SPAN radio. See our earlier posts on this hearing on March 16 and March 15. See our posts on the Committee’s first hearing in this series on January 30 and February 10.
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.
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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
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GAP press release: Monday House Hearing to Feature Cooney, Hansen, Deutsch
Posted on Friday, March 16, 2007
Rick Piltz: “Acting on behalf of the President, the White House Council on Environmental Quality has been instrumental in undermining the integrity of federal climate change communications and the credibility of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. The American public needs to know the full role the Bush administration has played in politicizing climate change science communication. Questioning Philip Cooney and James Connaughton under oath is an essential step in understanding this. Important pieces of the puzzle need to be put together. This hearing is the first opportunity for Congress to document and investigate the total breadth of this operation, one where the mission was to create an exaggerated sense of scientific uncertainty regarding climate change.”
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Cooney, Hansen, and Connaughton to testify before House Oversight Committee
Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2007
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), will hold a hearing on Monday, March 19, “To Examine Allegations of Political Interference with Government Climate Change Science (Part II).” White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair James Connaughton is scheduled to testify, along with former CEQ Chief of Staff Phil Cooney, who resigned in June 2005. Cooney, who until now has been entirely reticent about speaking publicly on his own behalf, will be making his first, very likely reluctant, Congressional appearance. Also appearing will be leading federal climate scientist Jim Hansen, along the former staffer in the NASA public affairs office who foolishly tried to silence him(with spectacular lack of success).
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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.
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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.
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Senate Commerce climate science hearing follow-up: News reports
Posted on Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Environment News Service ("Effects of Bush Climate Science Censorship Linger") and Wired News ("Bush Ripped on Global Warming") covered the February 7 Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on “Climate Change Research and Scientific Integrity” with some reporting that we liked.
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Senate Commerce Feb. 7 climate science hearing follow-up: Witness testimony and archived Webcast
Posted on Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Witness testimony and an archived Webcast of the hearing on “Climate Change Research and Scientific Integrity,” held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on February 7, are available on the Committee’s Web site. CSW Director Rick Piltz testified as one of a panel of six witnesses.
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House Oversight hearing follow-up: More news and editorial coverage
Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007
Excerpts from news coverage of the January 30 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on allegations of political interference with federal climate scientists, including our participation in the hearing, by NBC Nightly News, ScienceNOW Daily News (Science magazine), the Financial Times (UK), Voice of America News, National Journal’s Congress Daily, and Associated Press/Burlington Free Press; also, a “reality-based” editorial in the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, and one in Newsday (N.Y.)
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House Oversight Jan. 30 hearing follow-up: News coverage
Posted on Sunday, February 11, 2007
Coverage of the January 30 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on climate science by the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Australian Broadcasting, New Scientist (UK), and the Christian Science Monitor.
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House Oversight Jan. 30 hearing follow-up: Witness testimony and archived Webcast
Posted on Saturday, February 10, 2007
Witness testimony and other documents and an archived Webcast are available from the January 30 hearing on “Allegations of Political Interference With the Work of Government Climate Change Scientists” held by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
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