Bush admin. accused of climate science manipulation

The White House has systematically tried to manipulate climate change science to cast doubt on the reality of global warming, asserts a Democratic congressional report issued on Dec. 10 after a 16-month investigation. "The Bush administration has engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science and mislead policymakers and the public about the dangers of global warming," the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said. The report relies on hundreds of internal communications and documents as well as testimony at two congressional hearings to outline a pattern where scientists and government reports were edited to emphasize the uncertainties surrounding global warming, according to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA). The Democrats reported that the White House Council on Environmental Quality exerted "unusual control over what federal scientists could say publicly about climate change, and that it was standard practice for the council to decide whether or not US scientists could give interviews to the media. This became more apparent after Hurricane Katrina hit the US Gulf Coast in 2005, when the White House and the Commerce Department steered press queries away from government scientists who linked climate change and more intense hurricanes, the Democratic report said. "There was a systematic White House effort to minimize the significance of climate change by editing climate change reports," they wrote. They said council staff edited the administration's "Strategic Plan of the Climate Change Science Program" to exaggerate scientific uncertainties or to diminish the importance of the human role in global warming. While acknowledging the reality of global warming, the White House has opposed specific targets to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide -- spewed by coal-fired power plants and petroleum-fueled vehicles -- arguing that this would hurt the US economy. Among the report's findings: --The White House Council on Environmental Quality, or CEQ, made 294 edits to the administration's 2003 strategic plan for its climate change science program. It said the changes were to either emphasize uncertainties or diminish the importance of the human role in global warming. --Media requests for interviews with climate scientists were routinely routed through the CEQ, which often sought to make available scientists whose views were more aligned with administration policy. --Climate scientists' testimony before Congress was often heavily edited by political appointees. In cases cited in the report scientists were persuaded to play down the human influence on climate change and–in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina–the link between climate change and hurricanes.