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Science around environmental matters has long been dismissed in the rough and tumble of U.S. politics, but many scientists contend things got markedly worse through two terms under President Bush, as incidents have shown how political appointees were involved in shaping government reports on everything from climate change to condoms.

Now, more than half the 1,600 Environmental Protection Agency scientists who responded to an online questionnaire complained of political pressure in interpreting and performing their work.

And four in 10 scientists who have worked at the agency for more than a decade said interference has been more prevalent in the last five years than previously.

Here's the full report, Interference at the EPA, by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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As the world prepares to meet in Bali next month at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, U.S. governors have decided to take action at home. Weary of Congressional foot-dragging, the governors have made regional agreements on global warming and joined hands in a concerted bid to generate public and political support for legislation now before the Senate. But can anything meaningful take place while President Bush is still in office?

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The watchdog Government Accountability Project has released a 138-page report (pdf.) on the White House-orchestrated plot to suppress climate-change research that deviated from Bush administration policy.

Here's a realplayer webcast of the House Science Committee hearing where the report was release today.

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In his first return since 2001, when he was the defeated Democratic nominee still presiding over the Senate in his role as vice president, Gore told Congress they must slash carbon dioxide and other global warming gases 90 percent by 2050 to avert a crisis.