US fudging of climate science - details revealed

The Bush administration has again been charged with interfering with federal climate science, in order to underplay the significance of global warming.

Fudge and delete

In a 10-year policy plan, Cooney and Brian Hannegan, also at CEQ, made at least 181 edits to emphasise scientific uncertainty regarding the effects of climate change and 113 changes to minimise the importance of human contributions to global warming, according to the committee's memo.

For example, Cooney replaced "will" with "may" in the sentence: "Warming temperatures will also affect Arctic land areas." He also deleted this sentence: "Climate change has global consequences for human health and the environment."

Cooney says he thinks his edits, including the scientific uncertainties, are in line with conclusion of a 2001 report on climate change by the National Academy of Sciences (presumably this one).

In another case, Cooney said he was concerned that a US Environmental Protection Agency draft report was not leaving enough uncertainty on the link between human activities and observed warning. "I wanted a broad quote because it's an important question," Cooney said in his first public statement about his changes.