...van de Republikeinse voorzitter van de hoorcommissie:
,,Since our first hearing on January 30, we have received over eight boxes of documents
from the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The document production is not yet
complete. But some of the information the Committee has already obtained is disturbing.
It
suggests there may have been a concerted effort directed by the White House to mislead the
public about the dangers of global climate change.
It is too early in this investigation to draw firm conclusions about the White House's
conduct. But today's hearing will help us learn more about those efforts and provide guidance
on whether further investigation is warranted.
There is a saying in Washington that'þersonnel is policy." The White House appointed
an oil industry lobbyist - not a scientist or climate change expert - as chief of staff at the
Council on Environmental Quality. We will hear from that former lobbyist, Phil Cooney, today.
The documents we have received indicate he was able to exert tremendous influence on the
direction of federal climate change policy and science.
One of the key responsibilities given to Mr. Cooney and his staff at CEQ was the review
of government publications about climate change. Mr. Cooney and his staff made hundreds of
separate edits to the govemment's "strategic plan" for climate change research.
These changes
injected doubt in place of certainty, minimized the dangers of climate change, and diminished the
human role in causing the planet to warm.
(..)
There is even evidence in the documents we have obtained that the White House edited
an op-ed written by former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman to ensure that it
followed the White House line about climate change.
Our goal in this investigation is to understand what role the White House actually played.
It would be a serious abuse if senior White House officials deliberately tried to defuse calls for
action by ensuring that the public heard a distorted message about the risks of climate change.
In addressing climate change, science should drive policy. The public and Congress need
access to the best possible science to inform the policy debate about how to protect the planet
from irreversible changes.
If the Administration turned this principle upside down with raw political pressure, it put
our country on a dangerous course. Today's hearing should bring us closer to understanding
whether that is suspicion or fact.''
Gr. Ben
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