The USGS (United States Geological Survey), an "unbiased, multi-disciplinary science organization that focuses on biology, geography, geology, geospatial information, and water, is dedicated to the timely, relevant, and impartial study of the landscape, our natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten us."
Well, the USGS, http://www.usgs.gov/, our longtime trusted source of unbiased, accurate, timely information about things like earthquakes, volcanoes, and climate change, is grappling with new rules obviously designed to silence any scientific findings that the administration finds "ideologically inconvenient"; especially things like "global warming"!
AP correspondent John Heilprin reported today (Thursday, December 14, 2006) that the Bush administration is "clamping down on scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey", the latest agency subjected to controls on its research.
New rules require screening of all facts and interpretations by agency scientists who study everything from caribou mating to global warming. The rules apply to all scientific papers and other public documents, even minor reports or prepared talks, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press........Some agency scientists, who until now have felt free from any political interference, worry that the objectivity of their work could be compromised. "I feel as though we've got someone looking over our shoulder at every damn thing we do. And to me, that's a very scary thing. I worry that it borders on censorship," said Jim Estes, an internationally recognized marine biologist in the USGS field station at Santa Cruz, Calif.
"The explanation was that this was intended to ensure the highest possible quality research," said Estes, a researcher at the agency for more than 30 years. "But to me it feels like they're doing this to keep us under their thumbs. It seems like they're afraid of science. Our findings could be embarrassing to the administration."
The new requirements state that the USGS's communications office must be "alerted about information products containing high-visibility topics or topics of a policy-sensitive nature."
The agency's director, Mark Myers, and its communications office also must be told — before any submission for publication — "of findings or data that may be especially newsworthy, have an impact on government policy, or contradict previous public understanding to ensure that proper officials are notified and that communication strategies are developed."
Democrats about to take control of Congress have investigations into reports by The New York Times and other news organizations that the Bush administration tried to censor government scientists researching global warming at NASA and the Commerce Department.
Well, the USGS, http://www.usgs.gov/, our longtime trusted source of unbiased, accurate, timely information about things like earthquakes, volcanoes, and climate change, is grappling with new rules obviously designed to silence any scientific findings that the administration finds "ideologically inconvenient"; especially things like "global warming"!
AP correspondent John Heilprin reported today (Thursday, December 14, 2006) that the Bush administration is "clamping down on scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey", the latest agency subjected to controls on its research.
New rules require screening of all facts and interpretations by agency scientists who study everything from caribou mating to global warming. The rules apply to all scientific papers and other public documents, even minor reports or prepared talks, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press........Some agency scientists, who until now have felt free from any political interference, worry that the objectivity of their work could be compromised. "I feel as though we've got someone looking over our shoulder at every damn thing we do. And to me, that's a very scary thing. I worry that it borders on censorship," said Jim Estes, an internationally recognized marine biologist in the USGS field station at Santa Cruz, Calif.
"The explanation was that this was intended to ensure the highest possible quality research," said Estes, a researcher at the agency for more than 30 years. "But to me it feels like they're doing this to keep us under their thumbs. It seems like they're afraid of science. Our findings could be embarrassing to the administration."
The new requirements state that the USGS's communications office must be "alerted about information products containing high-visibility topics or topics of a policy-sensitive nature."
The agency's director, Mark Myers, and its communications office also must be told — before any submission for publication — "of findings or data that may be especially newsworthy, have an impact on government policy, or contradict previous public understanding to ensure that proper officials are notified and that communication strategies are developed."
Democrats about to take control of Congress have investigations into reports by The New York Times and other news organizations that the Bush administration tried to censor government scientists researching global warming at NASA and the Commerce Department.
1 comment:
Hi Flora
Wandering through Next Blog I found yours - Great Stuff!
I agree wholeheartedly with your views on Bush and the environment- everything else too, probably!
I'll save your link and visit often.
Ann
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