After a 16-month investigation, a new report from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee came to the "inescapable" conclusion that "the Bush Administration has engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science, mislead policy makers and the public about the dangers of global warming." The committee is chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Republicans on the committee called the report a "political attack" and their findings question the democrat's conclusion and investigative methods. The White House called the allegations untrue, according to the ABC News article.

According to the report, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) controlled which government scientists could respond to media inquiries, thereby suppressing dissemination of scientific views that could conflict with administration policies. Scientists who denied a link between stronger hurricanes and global warming were given approval by CEQ over scientists who suggested a link. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, White House approval for interviews with journalists became more prevalent. The committee obtained 27,000 documents from the CEQ during the investigation.

The report also stated that the White House minimized the signs of climate change by editing government climate change reports and editing scientific testimony to Congress.

"Claims that the administration interfered with scientists and with science are false." said CEQ chairman James Connaughton.

"A thorough investigation would have sought further evidence to complete the record before drawing conclusions based on the uncorroborated statements of one individual," the Republican report said.

Here is the link to the entire report (pdf file).

Update (12/12/07)........

In a follow up to this story, ABC News has a report in which Max Mayfield, the former director of the National Hurricane Center denies the committee's report that he was politically pressured to downplay the link between global warming and hurricanes during congressional testimony. Here is the link to the story.