NASA climate researcher accuses 2nd agency of muzzling scientists

By Juliet Eilperin

New York — James Hansen, the NASA climate scientist who sparked an uproar last month by accusing the Bush administration of keeping scientific information from reaching the public, said Friday that officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are also muzzling researchers who study global warming.

Hansen, speaking on a panel about science and the environment to a packed audience at the New School university, said that while he hopes his own agency will soon adopt a more open policy, NOAA insists on having "a minder" monitor its scientists when they discuss findings with journalists.

"It seems more like Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union than the United States," said Hansen, prompting a round of applause. He added that while NOAA officials said they maintain the policy for their scientists’ "protection, if you buy that one please see me at the break, because there’s a bridge down the street I’d like to sell you."

NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher denied Hansen’s charges, saying his agency requires its scientists to tell its press office about contacts with journalists but does not monitor their communications.

"My policy since I’ve been here is to have a free and open organization," Lautenbacher said.

Hansen prefaced his speech, which focused largely on how quickly humans must act in order to prevent irreversible climate change, by saying he was speaking as an individual: "I’m not speaking for the agency or the government."

After the panel discussion — which also featured Princeton University’s Michael Oppenheimer, Steven Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute and Stanford University’s Paul Ehrlich — Hansen said he knows of NOAA scientists who are chafing at the administration’s restrictions but are afraid to speak out.

Most scientists who study climate change have concluded that Earth’s current warming is being driven by the burning of fossil fuels. The administration does not question the link between human activity and climate change, but it has called for more research and supports solutions other than mandatory limits on carbon emissions.

After Hansen said late last month that political appointees at NASA had made it hard for him and other researchers to convey their climate change findings to the public, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin e-mailed agency employees last week and vowed to support "scientific openness."

Griffin, who had been chastised by House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., this week, said he would draft a new policy that would respect scientists’ right to speak out. On Friday, Boehlert said he was satisfied Griffin was taking the necessary steps.