A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits
on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways
that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to
internal documents.
In handwritten notes on drafts of several reports issued in 2002 and 2003, the
official, Philip A. Cooney, removed or adjusted descriptions of climate research
that government scientists and their supervisors, including some senior Bush
administration officials, had already approved. In many cases, the changes
appeared in the final reports.
The dozens of changes, while sometimes as subtle as the insertion of the phrase
"significant and fundamental" before the word "uncertainties," tend to produce
an air of doubt about findings that most climate experts say are robust.
Mr. Cooney is chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental ...