Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Administration Supresses NASA Climate Data

The Bush administration tried to suppress data out of NASA that pointed to global warming. Not surprising from the track record the administration but very surprising from an agency committed to science. Of course the Agency has always succumbed to political pressure. Just read Tom Wolfe’s book, “The Right Stuff.

In the New York Times, an article titled, “NASA Office Is Criticized on Climate Reports” reported that “two years after James E. Hansen, the leading climate scientist at NASA, and other agency employees described a pattern of distortion and suppression of climate science by political appointees, the agency’s inspector general has concluded that such activities occurred and were ‘inconsistent’ with the law that established the space program 50 years ago.”

Quoted in the article is Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat:

“Global warming is the most serious environmental threat we face, but this report is more evidence that the Bush administration’s appointees have put political ideology ahead of science,” Mr. Lautenberg said in an e-mailed statement. “Our government’s response to global warming must be based on science, and the Bush administration’s manipulation of that information violates the public trust.”

Read the article here.

In a related piece reported previously, James E. Hansen, a top NASA climate scientist, said to the New York Times that the Bush administration “tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming.”

Read all about it here.

No comments: