The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is learning the hard way that politicizing a government report is much, much harder after you've hired a reputable and principled scientist to write it. John Anderson, the author of the agency's report on Texas' Galveston Bay, says the agency removed references to humans' contributions to climate change. Anderson and the research center that gave him the assignment are fighting against the release of the edited report.
Jim Lester, the VP of the research center, told the Houston Chronicle that the report's release has been held up for a year because of the agency's changes and that "We feel [having our names associated with the report] would impact our credibility as scientists on something where the data on sea-level rise has been censored."
Anderson also told the paper, "I don't think there is any question but that their motive is to tone this thing down as it relates to global (climate) change. … It's not about the science. It's all politics."
The TCEQ says it would be "irresponsible" to just publish whatever report scientists happen to send them.
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