Congress Committee Releases In-Depth Report on White House Climate Science Manipulation

onDec 10, 2007 @ 09:38 PST

The evidence before the Committee leads to one inescapable conclusion: 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 report, Political Interference With Climate Change Science Under the Bush Administration, details a 16-month investigation into allegations of political interference with government climate change science under the Bush Administration.

During the course of this investigation, the Committee obtained over 27,000 pages of documents from the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Commerce Department, held two investigative hearings, and deposed or interviewed key officials. Much of the information made available to the Committee has never been publicly disclosed.

Here are some of the key findings in the report:

The White House exerted unusual control over the public statements of federal scientists on climate change issues.
Regarding Climate Science
The Administration’s Censorship of Climate Scientists was
Widespread – 150 federal climate scientists from eight federal agencies personally experienced at least one incident of political interference during the past five years.
The White House systematically minimized the significance of climate change by editing government climate change reports.
The White House Edited EPA’s [Environmental Protection Agency] Report on the Environment.
The White House Eliminated the Climate Change Section of
EPA’s Air Trends Report.
The White House was Involved in Editing EPA’s Legal Opinions.

The full version of the report can be found here (pdf). I’ve also attached it at the bottom of this post.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.