Bush Administration interfering with climate change science

A new report accusing the Bush Administration of manipulating federal climate change studies and federal scientists titled Atmosphere of Pressure is gaining attention in the House and Senate after being released by the Union of Concerned Scientists(UCS) and the Government Accountability Project(GAP). "The new evidence shows that political interference in climate science is no longer a series of isolated incidents but a system-wide epidemic," said Dr. Francesca Grifo, Director of the UCS Scientific Integrity Program. "Tailoring scientific fact for political purposes has become a problem across many federal science agencies." The report focused largely on a survey of 1,600 climate scientists concerning the state of federal climate research. UCS surveyed scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Division, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Food and Drug Administration. The results showed an atmosphere of manipulation and fear that colegues in non-governmental roles reported at much lower rates. Of the federal scientists that responded to the survey almost half (46 percent) reported that they had been pressured to eliminate the words "climate change" and "global warming" from their communications. The same rate of respondents reported new or unusual administrative requirerments that impaired climate-related study. Forty-three percent of federal scientists responding reported that their work had been edited in a way that changed the meaning of their findings. Independent researchers surveyed by UCS at the National Center for Atmospheric Research reported half the rate of interference with their work, with 22 percent of responding scientists stating that they had been interfered with. "Every day that the government stifles climate science is a day we fail to protect future generations and our planet from the consequences of global warming," said Grifo. "We need reforms that affirm the right of scientists to fully communicate their research and to blow the whistle when important science is suppressed." The report has generated attention in both the House and Senate. On Feb. 7 the Senate Committee on Commererce, Science and Transportation held hearings on the issue. Speaking out against the administration manipulation of science for political ends Committee Chairman Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI) said, "to deny federal scientists the right to speak, to change the findings of their work, or to deny the release of their work, basically creating an atmosphere of intimidation and fear, is a great disservice to the public." Speaking before the committee Rick Piltz of GAP testified that there are three main problems with the US Climate Change Science Program that was created by the Bush administration in 2002. "This new report shows that the problems I observed while working in the US Climate Change Science Program Office were part of an overall pattern of Bush administration intervention that has undermined the credibility and integrity of federal climate science communication," stated Piltz. "It shows that the problem has continued since I resigned from the program in March 2005 to protest this political interference. "The administration has acted in a variety of ways to impede and manipulate communication about climate change by Federal scientists … to a wider audience including Congress and the media." Piltz accussed the administration of suppressing the offical use of the National Assessment of Climate Change Impacts which forecasts climate change effects in 19 different regions throughout the country on issues that were "national in scope and related to the goods and services on which society and the economy depend, including reports on agriculture, water, human health, forests, and coastal areas and marine resources." The administration has also failed to continue the National Assessment process, a Congessionally-mandated report that should be issued "no less then every four years." Piltz warned that federal research on climate change has been drasticly reduced by the Bush administration and is currently at its lowest funding levels since 1992. The House addressed the report on Jan. 30 in a meeting of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Rep. Henry H. Waxman chair of the committee railed against the administration's resistance to repeated attempts by members of Congress to obtain White House documents related to the issues. "I don't want politically correct sciences. I want the best science possible. And that is what today's hearing is about,–said Waxman.