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Bp_contract(pdf) Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. (pdf)2012-03-02-ruling. Statement on the Need to Protect the Scientific Deliberative Process. A situation has arisen involving scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) that should concern all those who value the principles of academic freedom and responsibility, and believe these principles to be essential to the integrity of the deliberative scientific process. Today, Sunday June 3, the Boston Globe published an opinion piece by Drs. Christopher Reddy and Richard Camilli about WHOI’s court-ordered production of documents in the Deepwater Horizon litigation. We offer here a fuller account of these events, and our view of what is at stake for WHOI, scientists in the United States, and society at large. What concerns us is the erosion of the academic freedom to “…remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate…” without being subject to subpoena or investigation as recognized and protected by the law going back to the 1957 Supreme Court decision, Sweezy vs New Hampshire.

At the request of the U.S. 1. 2. Whoi: Christopher M. Reddy. People : Richard Camilli. March 2, 2012 In Virginia, the Emperor Has No Clothes. Virginia Supreme Court Rejects Subpoenas of Climate Scientists’ Emails March 2, 2012. Statement by Michael Halpern, Union Of Concerned Scientists Today, the Virginia Supreme Court rejected Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s Civil Investigative Demands (CID) -- essentially subpoenas -- that would have required the University of Virginia (UVA) to turn over emails and other private correspondence among former university climate scientist Michael Mann and dozens of his colleagues. Since April 2010 , Cuccinelli, who does not accept climate change science, has repeatedly attempted to use his power as attorney general to access the scientists’ correspondence -- including emails, research drafts and even handwritten notes -- through the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act.

Today’s decision follows a circuit court judge’s motion in August 2010 to set aside Cuccinelli’s request. The circuit court judge ruled that the attorney general had failed to provide any evidence of wrongdoing by Mann or any other climate scientist. “We applaud the high court for reaffirming that Mr. BP’s demand for e-mail will erode the scientific deliberative process. BP Goes After Scientists Who Helped Them During the Gulf Oil Disaster. The attack on the privacy of scientists’ email communication is expanding. It’s not just those who deny climate change who are going after the emails. Two scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution wrote in the Boston Globe over the weekend that British Petroleum has successfully subpoenaed more than 3,000 confidential emails among scientists that discuss the Gulf oil disaster. Incredibly, the Woods Hole scientists in question volunteered their time and knowledge to help the government and BP who were, pardon the expression, in over their heads.

The scientists were the experts on the deep sea environment, and they saw it as their responsibility to help out in a time of crisis. Scientists helped BP and the government understand the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. They used robotic technology they had developed for other reasons to determine the rate at which oil was gushing from the hole in the ocean floor. They go on to say: UVA’s Central Role In Mann Issue Presented to Court, Taxpayers.

American Tradition Institute: About. ATIEnergyEnvrmt (@ATIEnergyEnvrmt) sur Twitter. Sourcewatch about American Tradition Institute. SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: Who's behind the 'information attacks' on climate scientists? ATI wants the emails of a leading climate scientist. This week, in a courtroom in Prince William County, Virginia, a hearing will take place that could have implications for the privacy rights of scientists at colleges and universities across the country. It's part of a lawsuit brought by the American Tradition Institute, a free-market think tank that wants the public to believe human-caused global warming is a scientific fraud. Filed against the University of Virginia, the suit seeks emails and other documents related to former professor Michael Mann, an award-winning climate scientist who has become a focus of the climate-denial movement because of his research documenting the recent spike in earth's temperature.

By suing the university, the American Tradition Institute wants to make public Mann’s correspondence in an effort to find out whether he manipulated data to receive government grants, a violation of the state’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act. 'A Hostile Environment' Let's not forget. NotPICNIC : let's not forget... » RSC hit by yet another on-stage protest over BP sponsorship BP or not BP. Theatre staff failed to stop members of the Reclaim Shakespeare Company jumping on stage in Stratford-upon-Avon and delivering a surprise anti-BP performance in front of a full house. On Saturday (29th September 2012), a group of merry players known as the “Reclaim Shakespeare Company” took unexpectedly to the stage at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Five minutes before a BP-sponsored Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) performance of Twelfth Night was due to begin, the three actor-vists performed a short Twelfth Night-inspired piece. They challenged the RSC over its decision to accept sponsorship from BP in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster and the company’s decision to start extracting highly polluting and destructive tar sands oil in Canada. This was the seventh intervention by the Reclaim Shakespeare Company, and the third on the Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage. A notable pirate, a deepwater thief! The script : Character 1 – BP: Character 2 – RSC:

BP Tries to Buy Off Local Scientists. BP Buying-Off Entire University Marine Science Departments | Alabama Coast United. Guardian: Emails expose BP's attempts to control research into impact of Gulf oil spill | Environment. A clean-up operation on Queen Bess Island, June 2010. BP pledged a $500m fund for independent research into the consequences of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP BP officials tried to take control of a $500m fund pledged by the oil company for independent research into the consequences of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, it has emerged. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show BP officials openly discussing how to influence the work of scientists supported by the fund, which was created by the oil company in May last year. Russell Putt, a BP environmental expert, wrote in an email to colleagues on 24 June 2010: "Can we 'direct' GRI [Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative] funding to a specific study (as we now see the governor's offices trying to do)?

What influence do we have over the vessels/equipment driving the studies vs the questions? ". The email was obtained by Greenpeace and shared with the Guardian. BP British Petrolium. Deepwater Horizon. BP Oil Disaster. @gulfresearch.