Statement of Sen. James Inhofe

May 23, 2010 — -- Statement of Sen. James Inhofe, ranking member, Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works:

"One of the most basic principles of good science is openness and transparency. Scientists can only arrive at sound conclusions by sharing them and the assumptions on which they are based with other scientists. This is a principle that must govern taxpayer-funded science, on which policymakers rely to make judgments about key issues. One such issue is global warming.

"As the climate email controversy revealed, it appears that some of the taxpayer-funded science used to advance cap-and-trade legislation is being hidden from public view. The U.K.'s Information Commission's Office concluded that prominent scientists involved in the controversy violated the U.K.'s freedom of information law. It is important for the American public to know whether taxpayer-funded scientists violated similar transparency laws here in the United States. This is why I and many others in Congress are interested in this matter. The public needs to know whether the research they fund is reliable, objective, and easily accessible. As one prominent climatologist wrote, "increasingly higher standards must be applied to the transparency and availability of climate data."