Scientist admits defaming oilsands researchers

[CHIMO]

Source: CBC News

A scientist who works for the Alberta government has apologized to two scientists for calling their research "a lie."

Dr. Preston McEachern, an environmental effects biologist who works for the government of Alberta, issued a letter of apology and retraction to Kevin Timoney, a researcher with Treeline Ecological Research, and Peter Lee, executive director with Global Forest Watch Canada.

Timoney and Lee published the study "Does the Alberta Tar Sands Industry Pollute? The Scientific Evidence," which suggested the physical and ecological changes that result from oilsands industrial activities are detectable.

"This is a concrete example of an employee of the government of Alberta trying to undermine the credibility of experts whose studies expose important concerns about the tarsands industry to the public," Hudema said in a news release. "The government of Alberta seems more concerned about the reputation of the tarsands industry than it is about learning about the destructive and dangerous impacts this industry has."



Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/06/21/edmonton-mceachern-defamatory-apology.html

[Oldtimeralso]

1. K&R and off to the greatest n/t

[applegrove]

2. Great. Mythmaking has made it to Canadian neocons. Thanks USA. At least

this guy was forced to eat his words.

[glitch]

7. A particularly nasty virus, sadly no one's immune. nt

[HEyHEY]

3. Great, now spill about who put you up to it.

[polly7]

6. Exactly. I'm more than a little curious too ....... and p*d. nt.

[depakid]

4. Nope: no detectable impact here:

[dipsydoodle]

5. K & R

.

[Uncle Joe]

8. So did McEachern "lie" or was it just a "false" mistake on his part?

"Timoney's and Lee's lawyer had contacted him after he said in a presentation at the University of Alberta in March that the two "chose to remove data" from a study about the environmental impact of the oilsands, and called their findings a "lie."

"You did not lie," McEachern wrote. "You did not choose to remove data from your study. You did not actually remove data from 1985, 2003 and 2004. The statements in my presentation that you did these things were false and I regret very much that I made these statements. I unequivocally retract them."

That "lie" word is easy to throw out against others but hard to eat when it comes to oneself.

Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, CHIMO.

[leveymg]

9. "Ecological changes that result form oilsands industrial activities are detectable"? WTF?

How can anyone possibly deny it?



Looks a lot worse than any beach in Louisiana.

[Nihil]

10. Some do.

> How can anyone possibly deny it?

e.g.,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=4387620#4391015