http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/26/nation/la-na-oil-spill-researchers-20100627Reporting from Baton Rouge, La. — University professors in the gulf region responded with delight last month to BP's pledge to put up $500 million for academic research into the Gulf of Mexico's ecology over the next 10 years. With no significant federal grants on the horizon and an urgency to begin work, some of the academics had taken to using their own credit cards in hopes they would soon be reimbursed.
But their excitement at the windfall turned to chagrin last week after the White House ordered BP to consult with Gulf Coast governors before awarding research grants.
Elected officials in the region responded by demanding that the financial bonanza not spread beyond their own state universities, potentially leaving out such distinguished oceanographic institutions as Woods Hole in Massachusetts and Scripps in San Diego.
The political intervention has transformed the normally independent, merit-based process of matching grant money with researchers into a parochial tug-of-war for BP's millions. The imbroglio also has galvanized scientists who bristle at the notion that elected officials could direct sophisticated academic research.
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