Survey: Bush Advisers Interfered in Climate Reports
In Rep. Henry Waxman's first hearing since he resumed the chairmanship of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Union of Concerned Scientists released a damning report on the Bush administration's record of interference with climate science.
The report, Atmosphere of Pressure, is the result of surveys sent to 1,600 climate scientists at seven federal agencies asking them to "gauge the extent to which politics was playing a role" in their research. Of the 19 percent who responded, nearly half "perceived or personally experienced pressure to eliminate the words 'climate change,' 'global warming' or other similar terms from a variety of communications," says the report.
One hundred fifty scientists said they had personally experienced interference with their work in the past five years, some many times over, totaling 435 separate incidents. In addition to a submission of the report to Waxman, who has been eager to investigate a host of alleged offenses perpetrated by the Bush administration, the Union of Concerned Scientists submitted copies to heads of the seven targeted agencies, which include NOAA and NASA.
The small fraction of respondents raises the question of whether the results are skewed.
Francesca Grifo, director of the Scientific Integrity Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told U.S. News that the response is good for the methodology employed.
"Surveys with higher response rates are typically contacting them numerous times to remind them," Grifo said. "Because we were protecting the anonymity of scientists, we had to go with a methodology that didn't allow us to do that."
Grifo also said that respondents were not just "ax grinders," noting that many respondents included positive comments about the state of science and supervisors. Initiated soon after NASA's James Hansen went public with allegations that administration appointees were stifling his warnings about calamitous outcomes from global warming, the report attempted to quantify the problem "beyond the anecdote," Grifo says.
"We hope we have demonstrated that the problem is significant enough that it's time to talk solutions."