On Tuesday,
The hearing focused on evidence and examples of the Bush Administration's interference with the work of government climate change scientists. Specifically, the Committee heard testimony from and questioned Dr. Francesca Grifo (Senior Scientist and Director of the Scientific Integrity Program,
During the hearing, Congressman Lynch criticized the Bush Administration for its decision to put a former oil industry lobbyist, lawyer Philip Cooney, in charge of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Additionally, Lynch questioned witness Rick Piltz regarding reports that Cooney, as chief of staff at CEQ, edited government scientific documents in order to downplay the links between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. Piltz testified that Cooney did, in fact, make edits to several science program reports in 2002 and 2003.
The Hearing also marked the release of a joint report prepared by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Government Accountability Project. The report documented that nearly half of government scientists felt pressured to eliminate the words "climate change," "global warming," or similar terms from their scientific communications. And, 43% of government scientists saw their work or the work of others changed or edited during review in ways that changed the meaning of their scientific findings.
In all, government climate scientists reported at least 435 incidents of political interference. 150 of those scientists personally experienced political interference in their work.
On Tuesday night, ABC News aired a segment on the Committee's hearing, featuring comments by Congressman Lynch.
To view the segment, click on the following link: https://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2836413.
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