A group of Democratic senators is calling on the Trump administration to refrain from “political interference” and not suppress a national climate change report that was the subject of controversy several months ago.
The senators sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Wednesday, saying they “are still awaiting” his response to a letter sent in July asking for an update on the timing of the report. They asked him to ensure that the National Climate Assessment and the Climate Science Special Report “give fair and accurate summations of the latest climate science without political interference.”
The public release of the Climate Science Special Report is expected in the coming days. The report is part of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, which is mandated by Congress to be issued every four years. Ross oversees the agencies in charge of organizing and publishing the climate assessment.
“The most recent draft that was obtained by the New York Times in August incorporated input from independent expert reviewers at the National Academy of Sciences,” the letter stated. “This draft report provides yet more confirmation that human activities are dramatically changing our climate. Unless serious action is taken to rapidly reduce emissions, the United States will continue to warm several degrees over this century, with damages to infrastructure, ecosystems and human health.”
The New York Times had reported that many scientists that worked on the climate reports feared that the Trump administration would try to suppress the report. The Times initially reported that it had obtained a draft of the climate report before it corrected that the report had been publicly available for public inspection on a federally managed website for months.
The senators also want to know what Trump’s plans are in assessing the report once it is released.
“Once it is released, we would like to know how the Trump administration plans to address the report’s findings,” the letter said. “What are agency plans for briefing President Trump and senior administration officials about the findings in this report?”
They also want assurances from Ross and the administration that the second volume of the National Climate Assessment will stick to its schedule, which they expect to be sent out for its first review “very shortly,” the letter read.
“We strongly urge you to avoid any political interference and maintain the scientific integrity of the full National Climate Assessment documents,” the letter read.
The Democrats on the letter included Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California, Maria Cantwell and Jeff Merkley of Washington state, Al Franken of Minnesota, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Tom Udall of New Mexico.
