Lawsuit asks if science was manipulated in oil spill estimates

[G_j]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/09/17/100777/lawsuit-asks-if-science-was-manipulated.html

Posted on Friday, September 17, 2010

Lawsuit asks if science was manipulated in oil spill estimates

By Renee Schoof | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — An environmental whistleblower group charges in a lawsuit that the Obama administration is withholding documents that would reveal why it issued an estimate on the gravity of the Gulf of Mexico oil well blowout that later was proved to be far too low.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility sued Thursday in federal court, claiming that federal officials are withholding hundreds of pages of reports and communications between scientists on the Flow Rate Technical Group, who were tasked with making the estimates, and Marcia McNutt, the head of the U.S. Geological Survey, who chaired the technical group and released a summary of its findings.

The controversy over the oil flow estimates is part of a broader question about whether political appointees at the top of the Obama administration have manipulated and publicized incorrect or incomplete scientific information in an attempt to tamp down anxiety and anger over the world's worst oil accident.

The failure to assess the damage from BP's spill also is seen as hampering the government's continued efforts to clean up the Gulf.


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[Angry Dragon]

1. And the lesser amount will steal money from the taxpayers

It is our money and does not belong to any political party.