Fish & Wildlife Memo Seeks to Control Climate Change Discussions

Last week, the NYT got its hands on internal documents from the Alaskan branch of the federal Fish and Wildlife Service that appear to be orders from on high to keep a tight lid on the disclosure of any information related to global warming. According to the documents, distributed last week, government scientists and other employees in the Arctic region should not discuss climate change, polar bears or thinning sea ice unless authorized. The story is here.

Here's what the memo says:

"Please be advised that all foreign travel requests (SF 1175 requests) and any future travel requests involving or potentially involving climate change, sea ice and/or polar bears will also require a memorandum from the regional director to the director indicating who'll be the official spokesman on the trip and the one responding to questions on these issues, particularly polar bears....[any employee seeking permission to travel] understands the administration's position on climate change, polar bears, and sea ice and will not be speaking on or responding to these issues."

In December, the Interior Department proposed listing polar bears as a threatened species, saying habitat loss from melting ice will likely devastate bear populations. But the oil and gas industry says the bears have nothing to worry about. Fish and Wildlife began hearings on the subject this week.

Photo: Mark Lee