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<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility News
Release (www.peer.org)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>For Immediate Release: August 31, 2010<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Contact: Kirsten Stade (202) 265-7337<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>INTERIOR POSTS ONLY
HALF OF A SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY POLICY — <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Draft Would Punish Scientists But Not Protect Against
Political Manipulation <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Washington, DC — Seeking to rehabilitate its
tattered reputation, the U.S. Interior Department today proposed rules to
improve the accuracy and integrity of its scientific work. Disturbingly, the
proposal ignores political manipulation of science and instead focuses on
punitive measures against scientific specialists, according to Public Employees
for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>A report issued this year by its Office of Inspector
General (IG) faulted Interior for lacking any policy to ensure the integrity of
its scientific work. The proposed rules published today in the Federal Register
would subject Interior scientists to discipline for actions such as
falsification of data, disclosure of proprietary data and avoidance of
conflicts of interest. Significantly, the rules do not apply to agency managers
or bar alteration of scientific reports by non-scientists for political
reasons. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>“The scientists within Interior are not the ones
rewriting documents inappropriately. Scientific misconduct stems from
Interior’s political appointees and hand-picked senior managers but these
folks are not covered by the policy,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff
Ruch, pointing to a recent Government Accountability Office report that found
Interior managers short-circuiting environmental reviews of offshore drilling
in its Alaska office. “Interior’s approach to scientific integrity
in essence penalizes the victims and gives a free ride to the
perpetrators.” <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>In the Gulf of Mexico, Interior managers waived
environmental and safety reviews on the BP Deepwater Horizon rig and signed off
on a shoddy spill response plan that listed walruses and seals as local
wildlife, among other absurdities. This spring, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
and top aides overlooked scientific warnings about the risk of oil spills and
the lack of response capacity before approving a major expansion of offshore
drilling, just days before the disastrous BP explosion and spill. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>“Interior’s performance in the Gulf raised
a host of troubling questions – all of which this proposal avoids,”
added Ruch, noting that agency scientists are already subject to discipline and
negative performance reviews for scientific deviations and errors.
“Reform at Interior needs to start at the top.” <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>The draft Interior policy also appears at odds with a
directive issued by President Obama in March 2009 that agencies work with the
White House to develop policies providing transparency and peer review to
technical work, protecting scientific data from being “compromised”
and extending whistleblower protection to scientists. The Interior draft rules
contain none of these key elements. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>The proposed rules are subject to a 20-day public
comment period. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>### <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><span style='color:black'><a
href="http://www.peer.org/news/print_detail.php?row_id=1396">http://www.peer.org/news/print_detail.php?row_id=1396</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>See the draft Interior scientific integrity policy <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Look at the Interior Inspector General report <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>View the orphaned Obama scientific integrity plan <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA
94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land/fax</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810
mobile</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
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