Environmental Science & Technology  [Printer-friendly version]
July 13, 2005

EDITORIAL: WHEN SCIENCE GETS CENSORED

"While I served as a liaison, the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board was
asked to discuss policy implications of the precautionary principle
that was being implemented in Europe as the basis for some
environmental regulations.... Christine Todd Whitman and Linda Fisher,
who were then the EPA Administrator and the chief of staff,
respectively, were quite adamant that the Advisory Board should not
even discuss it."

[Rachel's introduction: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Science Advisors are not allowed to discuss the precautionary
principle.]

By Jerald L. Schnoor, Editor (est@uiowa.edu)

If there is a "no-spin zone" anywhere on earth, it should be in the
realm of science. However, the Bush Administration has chosen to spin
science in unprecedented ways and now has even begun to censor
environmental reports at the final stage of publication. This can only
cease when the present administration becomes more transparent, when
lobbyists do not have direct influence on government decisions, and
when brave souls blow the whistle on what's happening.

A case in point is Rick Piltz, who resigned in March from the U.S.
Climate Change Science Program and wrote a 14-page memo on how science
gets censored (see interview). Piltz spilled the beans that Philip
Cooney -- the chief of staff of the White House Council on
Environmental Quality (CEQ), a lawyer, and a former official of the
American Petroleum Institute -- made hundreds of changes to the first
and final drafts of the Climate Change Science Program's Strategic
Plan, substantially slanting the document and weakening the conclusion
that greenhouse gas emissions are causing global warming. Last month,
Cooney resigned from CEQ and was subsequently hired by ExxonMobil.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said there was
absolutely no connection between Cooney's departure and the furor
created by Piltz's resignation.

Another brave soul is Erick Campbell, a former Bureau of Land
Management state biologist in Nevada who authored key sections of an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the consequences of increased
grazing of animals on government land. The draft report warns that
such policies would pose a "significant adverse impact on wildlife."
When the final EIS was published, the Bush Administration had removed
that phrase and other critical portions before announcing it would
relax restrictions on grazing those lands.

Houston, we have a problem. If the system isn't broken, it is (at
least) in severe disrepair. To be sure, other administrations have
spun science and permeated political views into the rhetoric of
inquiry, but this blatant disregard for scientific consensus at the
final stage of publication is new and flagrant. I believe the current
administration is on a different and dangerous course.

Scientific reports are vetted (censored) by lawyers and bureaucrats at
CEQ at the final stage of the approval process without further
scientific input. White House officials are used as watchdogs to
create a chilling effect in committee meetings, while coordinating
strategy with conservative think tanks and industry lobbyists.
Substantive reports, such as the U.S. National Assessment of the
Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change and the UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's third assessment report
Climate Change 2001, which were vetted by hundreds or even thousands
of scientists, are being removed from websites (byte burning),
citation lists, follow-on reports, and from discussion by
administration officials in a policy designed to erase "unfavorable"
reports from the collective memory. "Skeptics" are routinely deployed
to respond to consensus reports, even though their ranks are few in
number and low in scientific stature (Science 2005, 308, 482).
Uncertainty is emphasized as a political strategy to confuse the
public and to delay or curtail reasonable government action. Relying
on uncertainty as an excuse for inaction is the hallmark of the Bush
Administration's environmental policy. It is invoked in almost every
situation, a kind of safety shield against any regulation that may
upset special interests.

While I served as a liaison, the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board was
asked to discuss policy implications of the precautionary principle
that was being implemented in Europe as the basis for some
environmental regulations. The precautionary principle states, "Where
there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full
scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing
cost- effective measures to prevent environmental degradation."
Christine Todd Whitman and Linda Fisher, who were then the EPA
Administrator and the chief of staff, respectively, were quite adamant
that the Advisory Board should not even discuss it. At the time, I was
really perplexed, but in hindsight I believe that Administrator
Whitman knew that it was a nonstarter with the Bush Administration and
could only get her (and us) into trouble. It's a shame, because making
decisions in the face of scientific uncertainty is precisely what's
needed.

When science gets censored, I suspect that most citizens have no way
of knowing. Still, the truth will finally come out -- that's the
beauty of the scientific method. But when science gets censored, it is
a sign of the low regard in which government officials hold scientists
and their process. This attitude also runs counter to the best
interests of the country. People and the environment lose, and it has
to stop.

Copyright 2005 American Chemical Society