(ABC) Exclusive: Report Charges Broad White House Efforts to Stifle Climate Research

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

Bush administration officials throughout the government have engaged in White House-directed efforts to stifle, delay or dampen the release of climate change research that casts the White House or its policies in a bad light, says a new report that purports to be the most comprehensive assessment to date of the subject.

Researchers for the non-profit watchdog Government Accountability Project reviewed thousands of e-mails, memos and other documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests and from government whistle-blowers and conducted dozens of interviews with public affairs staff, scientists, reporters and others.

The group says it has identified hundreds of instances where White House-appointed officials interfered with government scientists' efforts to convey their research findings to the public, at the behest of top administration officials.

The report is slated to be released tomorrow at a hearing before the House Science Committee, which is investigating the issue.

Read more: http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/03/exclusive_repor_1.html

[rodeodance]

1. REC. is any committee looking into this?

[sabra]

2. will be released @ tomorrow's committee hearing...

<snip>

The report is slated to be released tomorrow at a hearing before the House Science Committee, which is investigating the issue.

[rodeodance]

3. oops--see this:

The investigation covered the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Departments of Energy and Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and elsewhere.

Evidence and allegations of political interference in government climate change research have dogged the Bush administration, even from fellow Republicans. Last November, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., charged the administration had broken the law by failing to deliver news of climate change research to Congress by a legally-mandated deadline of November 2004.

"When you get to that degree of obfuscation, then you get a little depressed," McCain said then.

House Science Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Brad Miller, D-N.C., said the report's findings were "alarming" but "confirm what we knew all along" and looked forward to learning more at tomorrow's hearing.

[fshrink]

8. There are so many "things" to look into, it

could take a whole term and a dozen committees to investigate them properly (i.e. thoroughly and publicly). In fact, this might even constitute a major problem for the upcoming administration. On the one hand that's a lot of work and man-hours, on the other, it's a democratic necessity.

[hatrack]

4. I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you!

:eyes:

[ananda]

9. Shocked, appalled, terrified, horrified, etc.. but

definitely not surprised.

[bluerum]

15. I am adding sickened and disgusted to the list. eom.

[louis-t]

5. Hmmm, I may have to end my ABC boycott.

[sabra]

6. ABC picked up TPM's Justin Rood to do some investigative reporting...

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/justinrood.php

[louis-t]

7. Thanks, good stuff.

Read the article about Lam, too. Much needed info.

[Acadia Blue]

10. Investigative reporting...sigh hope it comes back in full force.

[IWantAChange]

11. That 'science' stuff is similar to facts & truth - an UNKNOWN to Repukes

[OwnedByFerrets]

12. PURE EVIL, THIS ADMINISTRATION IS.....nt

[Up2Late]

13. I have a question. Is this New News to anyone here? Because I've been seeing reports...

...just like this for years now. :shrug:

Another question: Will this report "get traction" with the general public this time, and if so, why do you think that?

[intheflow]

20. I got a piece published in the local Biloxi, MS paper last week.

It's just a quick blurb in a column called "Sound Off," where readers are invited to give opinions anonymously. I would have gladly had my name published, but that's just not the format for this particular column.

Anyway... this is what I wrote that was published:

The person who wrote in to Sound Off belittling Al Gore's Academy Award for "An Inconvenient Truth" said that global warming is a contrived problem. Not only is it apparent that this person has never seen the movie, but it is even more apparent that he has no background in science. When every legitimate scientific authority from the Environmental Protection Agency to the National Science Foundation to scientific journals such as Nature confirms the existence of global warming, one must wonder why so many people still choose to live in willful ignorance, and why the media continue to give voice to their delusions.

The fact that this was published in the Deep South, supportive of global warming []and critical of the media's complicity in perpetuating dis-information, gives me great hope. (And I think I sort of shamed the editor into publishing it, since I sourced the EPA, NSF, and Science's web sites. :) )

[Bluedogvoter]

14. This paragraph was interesting.

Tarek Maassarani, the report's author, cautioned that he did not see evidence of a single coordinated White House effort to block credible climate research. Instead, he believed officials acted only when a piece of research or particular issue showed up on their political radar. "They're reacting to situations most of the time," Maassarani told ABC News.

I'm looking forward to the author clarfying this a bit more by using examples of what happened.

[Doctor_J]

16. Better get John Stossel's moustache to do a 20/20 bit on this

Sounds like a case where he'd think "Big Government" is just fine.

[Doctor_J]

17. Paging Congressman Waxman

Sounds like some oversight is needed here.

[vickitulsa]

18. No shock to any of us, but I'm glad to see them being called out on it.

Now I'm starting to wonder ... Is there any area or aspect whatsoever of American government or social order or civil function or personal human search for simple happiness that these sick, wicked, twisted, moranic, perverse bastards collectively known as "Bu$hCo" have NOT managed to bring to ruination yet??

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. Okay, so what part of "against the public interest" are you not getting?

Impeach the son of a bitch already.

[19jet54]

21. Brownie

... "you're doing a heck of a job" :sarcasm: Same song, second verse, same as the first!