WP: Inquiry Sought on Agency Memo About Polar Bears, Climate Change

[DeepModem Mom]

Inquiry Sought on Agency Memo About Polar Bears, Climate Change
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 10, 2007; Page A06


Rep. Bart Gordon is investigating, (AP)

Two senior House Democrats demanded yesterday that Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne turn over documents to Congress in order to determine whether the administration was preventing federal scientists traveling abroad from discussing how global warming affects polar bears.

In a letter to Kempthorne, Bart Gordon (Tenn.), chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, and Brad Miller (N.C.), chairman of the investigations and oversight subcommittee, questioned why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a directive that has stirred protests from environmentalists.

This "appears to be the latest effort by the Bush Administration to block a full and free discussion of issues relating to climate change by the scientific community," they wrote.

The internal memo was sent to the wildlife agency's Alaska division under the heading "Foreign Travel -- New Requirement -- Please Review and Comply, Importance: High."

The memo, which was reported in other media on Thursday, cautioned employees against speaking about the relationship between climate change and the possible extinction of polar bears without getting official approval in advance. Those discussions became official business in late December when Kempthorne, faced with lawsuits by environmentalists, proposed listing polar bears as a species threatened with extinction....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030901986.html

[rodeodance]

1. go for the jugular---nothing works but the supena----(look at the way Gondo

suddenly flipped!)

[RedEarth]

2. Go after these revisionists.......... let's find out how much they've been

suppressing the facts.

[UpInArms]

3. Whoreshington Post does it again

when a R was in trouble, they never identified the party affiliation.

Looks like the new rule is, when a D does something good, don't identify the party affiliation.

In a letter to Kempthorne, Bart Gordon (Tenn.), chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, and Brad Miller (N.C.), chairman of the investigations and oversight subcommittee, questioned why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a directive that has stirred protests from environmentalists.

Official web site for Representative Bart Gordon (D - TN).

Official web site for Representative Brad Miller (D - NC, 13th District).

[stonebone]

4. kick - keep this sucker at the top of the board

[nam78_two]

5. Off to the GP with this.nt

[robinlynne]

6. a kick for the polar bears.

[rec_report]

7. Kick. n/t