NOAA scientists cleared of wrongdoing in email scandal
A recent investigation by the Commerce Department’s Inspector General has cleared the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of any wrong doing in a recent scandal over an email exchange with British academics; in 2009 more than 1,000 emails between NOAA scientists and the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom were stolen; the emails suggested that scientists had manipulated results and thrown out faulty data; the recent report exonerates the scientists of any wrongdoing, and several British reviews have already cleared the name of British scientists
A recent investigation by the Commerce Department’s Inspector General has cleared the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of any wrong doing in a recent scandal over an email exchange with British academics.
After reviewing 1,073 e-mails that spanned over thirteen years and interviewing NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco and several other scientists, Inspector General Todd Zinser declared in a letter to Senator Jim Inhofe (R – Oklahoma), “We did not find any evidence that NOAA inappropriately manipulated data … or failed to adhere to appropriate peer review procedures.”
In 2009 more than 1,000 email exchanges were stolen from the British university that suggested that scientists had manipulated results and thrown out faulty data.
The recent report exonerates the scientists of any wrongdoing, and several British reviews have already cleared the name of British scientists.
Scientists at NOAA were happy to receive the news of the Inspector General’s findings.
Mary Glackin, the deputy undersecretary for operations of NOAA, welcomed the report as “the latest independent analysis to clear climate scientists of allegations of mishandling of climate information.”
She added, “None of the investigations have found any evidence to question the ethics of our scientists, or raise doubts about NOAA’s understanding of climate change science.”
A spokesman for Senator Inhofe, the ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the senator “believes the IG (Inspector General) conducted a thorough and balanced investigation. He is very interested in following up on several issues identified in the report, including one in which a senior NOAA employee possibly thwarted the release of important federal scientific information for the public to assess and analyze. This is no doubt a serious matter that, along with other issues identified by the IG, deserves further investigation.”
The report also “found no evidence to suggest that NOAA was noncompliant” with the 2001 Information Quality Act, or the 1999 Shelby Amendment requirements for Freedom of Information Act release of documents on scientific deliberations.
Glackin echoed these findings adding that, “The NOAA scientists responded in good faith to the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests based on their understanding of the request and in accordance with the legal guidance provided in 2007.”
“NOAA’s policies, practices, and the integrity and commitment of our scientists have resulted in NOAA’s climate records being the gold standard that our nation and the world has come to rely on for authoritative information about the climate,” she said.
