Council on Environmental Quality
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The United States Council On Environmental Quality (CEQ) is a division of the White House that coordinates federal environmental efforts and works closely with agencies and other White House offices in the development of environmental policies and initiatives.
Congress established the CEQ within the Executive Office of the President as part of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). Additional responsibilities were provided by the Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970.
The Council's current chairman, is James L. Connaughton who was appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. Former chairmen include James Speth.
The CEQ reports annually to the President on the state of the environment; oversees federal agency implementation of the environmental impact assessment process; and acts as a referee when agencies disagree over the adequacy of such assessments.
On June 8th, 2005 Andrew C. Revkin of the New York Times reported that Philip A. Cooney chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality and former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute has been editing science papers by adding adjectives that add uncertainty to the government global warmingreports. These reports have often been cited as a reason for the United States to not accept the Kyoto Protocol.
For example, Andrew Revkin wrote' "In one instance in an October 2002 draft of a regularly published summary of government climate research, "Our Changing Planet," Mr. Cooney amplified the sense of uncertainty by adding the word "extremely" to this sentence: "The attribution of the causes of biological and ecological changes to climate change or variability is extremely difficult."
In a section on the need for research into how warming might change water availability and flooding, he crossed out a paragraph describing the projected reduction of mountain glaciers and snowpack. His note in the margins explained that this was "straying from research strategy into speculative findings/musings."