A Gulf Science Blackout

[depakid]

THE Deepwater Horizon blowout may be capped and the surface oil slick dispersed, but the scientists’ job has just begun: hundreds of us are working in and around the gulf to determine the long-term environmental impact of the drilling disaster.

Although we are all doing needed research, we’re not receiving equal money or access to the affected sites. Those working for BP or the federal government’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment program are being given the bulk of the resources, while independent researchers are shoved aside.

The problem is that researchers for BP and the government are being kept quiet, and their data is unavailable to the rest of the community. When damages to the gulf are assessed in court or Congress, there might not be enough objective data to make a fair judgment.

Transparency is vital to successful science: researchers must subject their proposals to the scrutiny of colleagues, and publications require peer review. When it comes to field research, scientists need equal access to the same sites to test competing hypotheses.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/opinion/25hooper-Bui.html

And as PEER and the Union of Concerned Scientists keep asking: where are the rules on scientific integrity that were promised by July 2009?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/09/despite-obamas-lofty-word_n_641082.html

[amborin]

1. &R

[ibegurpard]

2. the oil has evaporated

qwitcherbitchin

[TheKentuckian]

3. Drifting into evil territory with this cover up and that is being kind

[depakid]

4. The politicization of science at the public agencies is a travesty on either side of the aisle

It's always been a bit of a problem, but reactionaries and fundamentalists in the Reagan administration really brought it to the forefront with the likes of James Watt, et al.

Now it would appear that the administration finds this sort of political control useful to their corporate and regional agendas, too.

For different reasons, maybe- but nevertheless, it's hostile territory for the advancement of open, honest, evidenced based- and effective policies that benefit us all.