NOAA Issues Draft Scientific Integrity Policy for Public Comment

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued a draft scientific integrity policy for public comment.  It joins a similar release by the Department of the Interior in February as a response to President Obama's executive order requiring federal agencies to provide guidance on how they will ensure scientific integrity. NOAA would like interested parties to provide feedback by August 20, 2011.

The policy, which can be read in full here, establishes Codes of Conduct and Ethics and identifies eight "Principles of Scientific Integrity."  They include such things as how NOAA employees conduct, publish, and communicate research and results, and the benefits and limitations of NOAA scientists' participation in professional organizations, as well as rules for receiving awards. The primary goals are to ensure transparency, maintain the highest of levels of scientific integrity, and assist in the accurate communication of scientific findings to the public and policy-makers. 

To support this policy, among other things, NOAA will facilitate the free flow of scientific information online and in other formats, document the scientific findings considered in decision-making, and ensure selection of scientific staff "based on a candidate's integrity, knowledge, credentials, and experience relevant to the responsibility of the position." 

The new draft policy was welcomed by at least one scientific organization, the American Geophysical Union, which issued a press release.


The link for the NOAA scientific integrity policy, and instructions for providing feedback to the Agency, can be found here.

New NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco Says Science is Her Top Priority

Dr. Jane Lubchenco took over the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on March 22, 2009. A day later she did a joint interview with writers from two of the most prestigious science news journals - Science and Nature. When asked what her top priorities were as she took over the agency, she responded "Clearly, science is a priority for me."

Expanding on that idea, Dr. Lubchenco said:

It's my belief that a resilient society and economy depend on informed decisions regarding environmental challenges and resource-management issues. The role of science is to provide the knowledge to do that informing. Those decisions might be made by individuals or governments or by companies; I believe those decisions will be better if they are informed by science. I use "informed" judiciously because I don't think the science should dictate any particular outcome. Decisions are going to take into account a number of different things — values, politics, economics — but science should be at the table in a way that is understandable and relevant and credible and salient. NOAA, as an applied-science agency, has the responsibility to develop and communicate and use science to make policy and management decisions, but also to inform policy and management decisions that are made by others.

When asked whether there was "a big problem in terms of scientists being muzzled in the last administration," she said that it's probably hard to know for sure, but that "as we move forward science will be respected; it will not be muzzled. It will not be distorted. And scientists will be free to share their scientific findings whether they fit any preconceived policy or not." She also indicated that she and John Holdren, the new presidential science adviser and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, would be reviewing all policies and practices to ensure scientific integrity.

Lubchenco also said that one thing she would like to do is "establish a National Climate Service in partnership with other agencies."

The full interview can be read in Nature magazine.

Holdren and Lubchenco Are Confirmed - And So is Obama's Commitment to Climate Change

On Thursday the Senate unanimously confirmed Jane Lubchenco to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and John Holdren to head the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Lubchenco is a marine scientist whose experience and credibility goes back decades. Holdren is a Harvard University physicist and professor of environmental policy. These confirmations round out Obama’s science team.

And what a team. By selecting such a group of well-renowned scientists and administrators for his key positions - including Steven Chu as Energy Secretary, Lisa Jackson as EPA Administrator, Nancy Sutley as head of the Council of Environmental Quality, and former EPA Administrator Carol Browner in the newly created position of Climate and Energy Policy Advisor in the White House - Obama has signaled that he puts a high value on science. It also signals that he will pursue active policies to address climate change.

Lubchenco and Holdren, along with the others, could play significant roles in shaping the Obama administration’s approach to climate science and policy. Lubchenco has "built an international reputation for her scientific work on marine conservation and climate change and for her ongoing efforts to help scientists participate in public policy debates and communicate their work to the general public."

Holdren has a long history of working on climate and energy policy, clean technology and nuclear proliferation. Over a year ago he gave the prestigious John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture on Science and the Environment at the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE). Called "Meeting the Climate-Change Challenge," Holdren stated:

"We are experiencing dangerous anthropogenic interference by any reasonable definition today. The question now is whether we can avoid catastrophic human interference in the climate system."

He listed three possible policy options..."They are mitigation, adaptation, and suffering. Basically, if we do less mitigation and adaptation, we’re going to do a lot more suffering."

Holdren's full lecture at NCSE can be read here. It's worth the read.

Meanwhile, it's clear that the current administration will place more emphasis on science than his predecessor, with a specific interest in addressing climate change.