House science committee demands that NOAA widen its ... · 2016/02/28 · reviewing the...
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Subscribe Renew my subscription • Sign up for alerts • Librarians Representative Lamar Smith ( R–TX) at a September 2015 screening of the film The Martian in Washington, D.C. NASA/Joel Kowsky/Flickr (CC BY‑NC‑ND 2.0) House science committee demands that NOAA widen its internal search for climate change emails By Carolyn Gramling Feb. 26, 2016 , 2:30 PM
Transcript of House science committee demands that NOAA widen its ... · 2016/02/28 · reviewing the...
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Representative Lamar Smith ( R–TX) at a September 2015 screening of the film TheMartian in Washington, D.C.
NASA/Joel Kowsky/Flickr (CC BY‑NC‑ND 2.0)
House science committee demands that NOAA widenits internal search for climate change emails
By Carolyn Gramling Feb. 26, 2016 , 2:30 PM
The hiatus in hostilities—if there was one—is over betweenRepresentative Lamar Smith (R–TX), chair of the House ofRepresentatives science committee, and the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration (NOAA). Smith issued a letter on 22February chastising NOAA officials for “the slow pace and limitedscope” of agency submissions so far of emails and othercorrespondence requested under a 13 October 2015 subpoenaissued by the panel. The letter also demands that NOAA’s internalsearch now include a much broader range of terms, including“temperature,” “climate,” and “change,” and that it submit thesedocuments by 29 February.
Over the past 9 months or so, Smith and NOAA have squared offover claims that a Science paper authored by federal climateresearchers was rushed into publication to advance the climatepolicies of the Obama administration. The committee’s October2015 subpoena demanded that NOAA submit all correspondence byadministration officials relating to the paper, dating back to 1January 2014. In the 22 February letter, Smith notes that NOAA hasto date submitted 201 pages of documents and emails from variousmembers of its staff. However, NOAA had directed its staff to searchfor certain terms—“hiatus,” “global temperature,” and “climatestudy”—a selection of terms which Smith called “unnecessarilynarrow.” The committee now wants NOAA to broaden its searchconsiderably, to include correspondence from many more NOAAofficials as well as an expanded list of terms from those andpreviously searched officials. Those new terms include:
“Karl”
“buoy”
“ship”
“temperature”
“climate”
“change”
“Paris”
“United Nations”
“President”
“Obama”
“White House”
The committee also demanded documents relating to how NOAAimplements the Data Quality Act, as well as the peer review recordrelating to the 2015 Science paper, citing a letter signed by 325
“scientists, engineers, economists, and other scholars” and sent tothe committee 28 January that called into question NOAA’sadherence to the Data Quality Act.
A spokesperson for NOAA says that the administration is currentlyreviewing the committee’s letter. The minority leader of the HouseScience Committee, Eddie Bernice Johnson (D–TX), has not issuedan official response to the 22 February letter, although last fall sheregistered strong objections to what she called a “fishingexpedition”. The Union of Concerned Scientists today issued itsown letter addressed to Smith, noting that the committee’sdemands are “enormously broad and can only be construed as a‘fishing expedition,’ given there is no evidence of misconduct.”
Posted in: Policy
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4116
Carolyn GramlingCarolyn is a staff writer for Science, covering polar and ocean science, and isthe editor of the In Brief section.
Email Carolyn Twitter
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Albertz • 2 days agoWould it be possible to impeach Lamar Smith, Mitch McConnell, andfor that matter all Republican members of Congress?
Or maybe a classaction suit for dereliction of duty, breach of goodfaith contract, conduct unbecoming of public servants, ignorance ofbasic science, excessive footdragging, pandering to the moneyedinterests, unusual hardheadedness, etc.
Oh, and look who took over 1,000 trips to swanky places withexpenses paid by conservative sources of money (N.Y.Times online2/26/2016, hint: SCOTUS). Follow the money to learn the truth.
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• Reply •
Norm Wilson • 2 days ago> Albertz
Vote them out.
Think how different our government would be if the majority ofAmericans actually participated in the democratic process.
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• Reply •
Albertz • 2 days ago> Norm Wilson
That's what Bernie Sanders has called for: a loud butpeaceful revolution where the public demands areinstatement of participatory democracy and puts anend to the prevailing system/culture wherein theoligarchs and their lobbyist/politician enablers shortcircuit the democratic process.
But to make it work, people cannot sit back and watchTV. People have to stand up and demand this loud andclear at every opportunity. The establishmentsystem/culture is not going to correct itself never hasnever will.
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rg9rts • 3 hours ago> Albertz
Berine isn't the answer...its congress and statelegislatures
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Albertz • 8 minutes ago> rg9rts
Your suggestion is about as good as yourspelling.
If congress is a big part of the answer, whydoes the overwhelming majority of thevocalizing public give congress a grade of F fortheir last 15 years of corruption and ineptitude?
The congress we suffer with presently offerslittle hope for progress if we stick with thesame old establishment system. Fundamentalchanges will be required. The question iswhether or not the American people have thecourage and determination to demand a returnto real democracy. I have my doubts, but I amwiling to give it another try.
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• Reply •
rg9rts • 4 minutes ago> Albertz
You typify the St Bernards..,.rude and arrogant △ ▽
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rg9rts • 3 hours agoThe Flat Earth Society is thriving in congress
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