John Kerry (D.-Mass.) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D.-Calif.) have asked that the Government Accountability Office investigate allegations that Phillip A. Cooney, a chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, manipulated scientific reports to under-represent links between greenhouse emissions and global warming. According to the congressmen, Cooney, a former oil industry lobbyist, repeatedly edited government climate reports and politicized the science program.
The congressmen also cited statements by Rick Piltz, former senior associate with the U.S. Climate Change Science Policy Office and former associate director of the U.S. Global Change Research Program. In addition to altering documents, political appointees dictated government climate research priorities, according to Piltz, who resigned in protest in March.
The alteration of documents is part of a pattern of interference initiated by the current administration, Kerry and Waxman told the GAO. "Other examples include changes made by the White House or agency political appointees that distorted scientific findings and summaries in reports, articles, and press releases from EPA, NASA, and NOAA addressing climate change," they wrote in their review request.
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