A FORMER White House aide has defended editing government reports on global climate change to put them in line with the views of the Bush administration.
Phil Cooney, former chief of staff of the White House鈥檚 Council on Environmental Quality, said this was part of the normal review process. A former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, Cooney now works for oil company ExxonMobil.
The US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held its second hearing on political interference in federal climate change research on Monday, as part of a continuing investigation. Documents 鈥渁ppear to portray a systematic White House effort to minimise the significance of climate change,鈥� the committee said in a memo.
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Lawmakers heard of this top-down pressure on climate scientists during the first hearing in January, when former government scientist Rick Piltz said that Cooney tried to downplay the consequences of climate change in government documents.
In a 10-year policy plan, Cooney and former colleague Brian Hannegan made at least 181 edits to emphasise scientific uncertainty on the effects of climate change, according to the memo. For example, Cooney deleted this sentence: 鈥淐limate change has global consequences for human health and the environment.鈥�
鈥淐ooney made at least 181 edits to emphasise uncertainty on the effects of climate change鈥�
