Canada Quashing Climate Science: Critics

October 6, 2010–The press policy documents, obtained by Margaret Munro of Postmedia News, reveal scientists must get permission to talk to the press — and climate science and oil sands are off limits. Any statements on those topics must be approved by political appointees at the ministerial level.

Interior Cedes to Critics on Scientific Integrity

October 6, 2010–The revised policy puts the onus on political appointees as well as scientists, declares a presumption of openness in public access to scientific information generated at the agency, and affirms the right of scientific employees to talk to news media and investigative agencies.

Taxpayer-Funded Research Remains Available — for Now

October 6, 2010–SEJ was one of the groups that opposed HR 801, a bill by House Judiciary Chairman John H. Conyers which would allow private journal publishers to copyright scientific articles based on federally funded research.

Groups Slam Proposed Interior Science Integrity Policy

September 8, 2010–Open-government advocacy groups like Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Union of Concerned Scientists say DOI's proposal seems designed to perpetuate some of the worst science abuses of the Bush administration.

Studies: Lighten Up on Roof and Pavement Color

August 4, 2010–While not a stand-alone climate change-fighting measure, converting roofs and pavements in tropical and temperate cities of one million or more people to light-colored materials would provide the equivalent one-time benefit of eliminating two years' worth of global CO2 emissions, or eliminating the emissions of 300 million vehicles for 20 years.

Russian Olives and Tamarisk Get A Little Federal Love

May 12, 2010–A new report by the US Geological Survey, Bureau of Reclamation, US Forest Service, other federal agencies, and university experts says the water-hogging reputation of the two species has little merit, but found that effects on wildlife are mixed.

EPA Staffers Forced To Ignore Science: Panel

May 5, 2010–Award-winning investigative journalist Sheila Kaplan, an SEJ member, published a story in Politics Daily bringing to light some 73 interviews with 450 EPA employees depicting political interference in EPA science as an ongoing problem.

Survey Finds Little Early Improvement in Science-Meddling Under Obama

March 10, 2010–George Washington University's Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (SKAPP) followed up with 37 scientists at 13 federal agencies to see if conditions had improved at their agencies post-Bush. Survey says: Not really, or not yet.

Study Shows Managed Turf Is Net Greenhouse Gas Loser

February 3, 2010–A study by Univ. of California-Irvine researchers has found that while grass itself acted as a carbon sink, when other factors are taken into account — fuel burned to maintain the lawn, emissions from fertilizer spread to help it grow, etc. — four times as much carbon was emitted than was absorbed.

AAAS Meeting Offers Chance To Catch Enviro Scientists

January 20, 2010–Dozens of sessions on environmental topics are on the agenda at the 2010 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to be held Feb. 18-22 in San Diego.