In a message dated 3/20/2007 1:44:31 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
marx@phy.ilstu.edu writes:
Climate scientist sees cover-up
By Eric Pfeiffer
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published March 20, 2007
A NASA scientist who said the Bush administration muzzled him
because of his belief in global warming yesterday acknowledged to
Congress that he'd done more than 1,400 on-the-job interviews in
recent years.
James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space
Studies, who argues global warming could be catastrophic, said
NASA staffers denied his request to do a National Public Radio
interview because they didn't want his message to get out.
But Republicans told him the hundreds of other interviews he did
belie his broad claim he was being silenced.
"We have over 1,400 opportunities that you've availed yourself to,
and yet you call it, you know, being stifled," said Rep. Darrell Issa,
California Republican.
Mr. Hansen responded: "For the sake of the taxpayers, they should
be availed of my expertise. I shouldn't be required to parrot some
company line."
In a bitter hearing before the House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee, which is investigating whether there was political
interference into climate science, Republicans and Democrats accused
each other of "smearing" the other's witnesses.
High-profile global warming hearings this week will include
appearances by former Vice President Al Gore before House and
Senate committees.
Mr. Hansen yesterday said the Bush administration threatened him
and his office over his stance on global warming.
"It was an oral threat made to a public affairs person in New York
and relayed to me," said Mr. Hansen, who is listed as a senior adviser
to Mr. Gore and consulted on Mr. Gore's global warming film, "An
Inconvenient Truth."
Citing what he called a "growth of political interference," Mr.
Hansen said he was forced by NASA officials to deny an interview
request from NPR because press officials believed the network to have
a liberal bias.
But Mr. Issa noted that Mr. Hansen conducted 15 interviews in the
month after accusing the Bush administration of censorship.
During the hearing, former NASA spokesman George Deutsch said
he made an error in judgment by sending an e-mail to his superiors
suggesting that several of Mr. Hansen's colleagues should grant the
NPR interview instead of him.
Mr. Deutsch, who was 23 at the time, said Mr. Hansen was
prohibited from doing the interview because of his prior refusal to
notify NASA officials when he was granting interviews, not for
political reasons.
Citing what he called his "constitutional right" to give interviews,
Mr. Hansen admitted violating NASA's press policy but defended his
actions.
"It's a very rare case of where you got it on paper," Mr. Hansen said
of Mr. Deutsch's e-mail, claiming the blocked interview was not an
exception. "This thing was going on all the time."
Mr. Hansen refused to denounce earlier comments he made
referring to the White House as a "propaganda office," and saying, "It
seems more like Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union than the United
States."
"I was referring to the constraints of speaking to the media," Mr.
Hansen said, when asked about his comments.
Mr. Hansen also claimed his department was put on a "going out of
business budget," by the White House as payback from his global
warming views and that press releases were routinely sent to the White
House for approval before going public.
Republicans questioned him about his ties to prominent Democrats.
Mr. Hansen received a $250,000 grant from the Heinz foundation,
which is controlled by Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Sen. John Kerry,
Massachusetts Democrat. Mr. Hansen was a vocal supporter of Mr.
Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.
"As far as I know, there's no political connection to this award,"
said Mr. Hansen, who has donated several thousand dollars to past
presidential campaigns for Mr. Kerry and Mr. Gore. "It's an
environmental award."
Chairman Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat, accused
Republicans of "smearing" the witness after Rep. Mark Souder,
Indiana Republican, asked Mr. Hansen about the Heinz foundation
grant.
In response, Republicans accused Democrats on the committee of
unfairly criticizing Philip Cooney, former chief of staff for the White
House Council on Environmental Quality.
Mr. Cooney said he and several other administration colleagues
were responsible for editing documents that were produced by
scientists including Mr. Hansen.
Mr. Cooney, who was previously employed by the Petroleum
Institute, which lobbies on behalf of the gas and oil industries, denied
that any of his changes were designed to conceal scientific research on
global warming.
For his part, Mr. Hansen explained that he has not always disagreed
with the administration's environmental positions, offering approval
for increased research into nuclear power and praising the White
House's support for a methane gas program.
"It is a success story, and the administration should be given credit
for it," Mr. Hansen said.
The " Spokesperson" who tried to prevent Mr Hansen from speaking also wrote
in an email that it is not the place of NASA to support the Big Bang Theory
because after all it's only a theory and he "believes" in ID. I would hope
that any scientist on this list would be appalled that such a person is a NASA
spokesperson. In addition , the Bush administration has cut deeply into
climate science research which seems strange if you really believe that the
majority of the scientific community are wrong on global warming. As far as I
know , not a single scientist who disagrees with the scientific consensus on
global warming has criticized this policy.
Bob Zannelli
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