Committee to investigate climate change research interference

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing today into allegations that the White House Council on Environmental Quality interfered with the work of government climate change scientists in an attempt to minimize the significance of global warming.In preparation for the hearing, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the committee’s chairman, and Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), its ranking member, wrote to James Connaughton, chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), requesting unredacted copies of specific documents related to claims that council officials edited scientific reports and took other actions to alter their assessments of climate change.The committee specifically wants to examine “CEQ’s review of and suggested edits to materials produced by other federal agencies regarding climate change” and “efforts by CEQ to manage or influence statements made by government scientists or experts to representatives of media regarding climate change."Waxman and Davis told Connaughton that last year’s review of documents at council offices will not be workable this Congress. They requested that “a full set of responsive documents” be sent to the committee by Feb. 9.