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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
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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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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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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Senate committee lets Adm. Lautenbacher off the hook on NOAA media restrictions
Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2006
At a February 16 oversight committee hearing (video file; hearing begins at 17:50) on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fiscal year 2007 budget request, the Senate served up another example of the shortcomings of Congressional oversight of the administration’s handling of global warming. At a time of emerging outspokenness by federal climate scientists and increased media attention to political interference with public communication by scientists at NASA and NOAA, Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher, the NOAA Administrator, was allowed to dance away from a couple of general inquiries with evasive and misleading replies, with no follow-up from the committee. The hearing was held on the same day the Wall Street Journal ran an article citing a “growing outcry from climate researchers in [NOAAs] own ranks.”
Our question for the NOAA scientists among our readers: What do you think of the Admiral’s statements?
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Sen. Mikulski’s letter requesting GAO report on openness in federal science communication
Posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) has requested a review by the congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO) of the policies and practices of federal science agencies to ensure openness in scientific communication. Mikulski is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over more than 80 percent of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program budget and also the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The request specifically refers to allegations that climate scientists at NASA and NOAA are restricted in their public communications. Climate Science Watch will provide, as appropriate, information from our investigation that we have found useful in understanding this problem.
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