Climate Scientists Released from Federal Gag Order
WASHINGTON, DC, January 18, 2009 (ENS)
Bush administration rules limiting what U.S. Department of Commerce
employees can say to the media or in public do not apply to climate and
weather scientists, according to an agency email released by Public
Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a service organization for state
and federal employees.
As a result, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration specialists
represented by the National Weather Service Employees Organization do not
have to obtain agency pre-approval to speak or write, whether on or
off-duty, concerning any scientific topic deemed "of official interest."
A November 19, 2008 email from NOAA Deputy Pacific Regional Director Edward
Young states that the Commerce Department policy on "Public Communication,
issued April 30, 2008, has not yet been implemented within the National
Weather Service, and does not affect members of the Bargaining Unit."
That bargaining unit is represented by the National Weather Service
Employees Organization and includes 4,000 NOAA employees, including
forecasters of the National Weather Service, attorneys in NOAA's Office of
General Counsel, hurricane researchers and other meteorological scientists.
While climate and weather scientists are free to speak to the media and at
conferences, other scientists who are employed by the Commerce Department
are not.
"While this is a welcome development, it leaves an odd situation where
climate scientists can speak but marine scientists and oceanographers need
permission in advance before answering even basic questions," said PEER
Executive Director Jeff Ruch.
"The next Secretary of Commerce could end this anomaly by rescinding this
policy of prior restraint and letting all of NOAA's scientists speak
freely," Ruch suggested.
A climate scientist explains her climate change research to a group of
Minneapolis students. (Photo by Linepithomatic)
Commerce Department policy as of April 2008 holds that all official news
releases, interviews/news conferences, all written and audiovisual materials
must be pre-approved by the head of the operating unit and a public affairs
officer.
All non-official communications concerning Commerce Department programs,
policies, or operations that are related to the employee's job or area of
expertise are also subject to pre-approval.
Scientists must give the Commerce Department at least two weeks "advance
notice" of any written, oral or audiovisual presentation prepared on their
own time.
The only exception is oral communication, "if the communication is not
initiated by the employee and if there is no time to give advance notice,
although in such cases notice shall be given as soon as possible after the
communication," the policy states.
Ruch said the decision is important because it recognizes that agency
communication restrictions are covered by collective bargaining agreements
which set working conditions.
There is concern among federal employee unions in agencies such as NOAA and
the Environmental Protection Agency about political manipulation,
suppression or screening of agency scientific and technical work," Ruch
says.
In 2005, the Union of Concerned Scientists and PEER surveyed 460 NOAA
Fisheries scientists in offices across the country to obtain their
perceptions about the scientific integrity of agency decision making.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they know of cases in which
high-level Commerce Department appointees or managers "have inappropriately
altered NOAA Fisheries determinations," and 53 percent said they are aware
of cases in which "commercial interests have inappropriately induced the
reversal or withdrawal of NOAA Fisheries scientific conclusions or decisions
through political intervention."
More than one third of respondents have "been directed, for non-scientific
reasons, to refrain from making findings that are protective" of marine
life.
Nearly one in four of those surveyed reported being "directed to
inappropriately exclude or alter technical information from a NOAA Fisheries
scientific document."
On the campaign trail, President-elect Barack Obama pledged to embrace
principles of transparent government and to end political interference with
official science.
"President Obama could outlaw gag orders such as these as a matter or policy
or by Executive Order," Ruch said. "We hope that these actions take place
early in his administration."
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Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.
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