Neguse looks to reopen probe

Congressman worried about claims feds tried to censor CU researcher’s report

A Colorado congressman is urging the U.S. Department of Interior’s inspector general to reopen an investigation into claims the National Park Service tried to scrub references to humancaused climate change from a University of Colorado researcher’s scientific report.

Researcher Maria Caffrey’s report on rising sea levels at national parks ultimately was published by the National Park Service last year without censorship, said Leanne Lestak, a research scientist at CU Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.

But U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Lafayette Democrat, said during a congressional committee hearing last week that the “unfortunate aspect” of the report’s release without edits was that it led the Interior Department’s inspector general to close its investigation.

“The case of Dr. Maria Caffrey raises serious questions about whether scientists at the Department of Interior are able to do their work free from political influence,” Neguse said in a statement to The Denver Post. “Even more concerning is the fact that

Dr. Caffrey submitted a formal scientific integrity complaint to the department, but they found that there was no wrongdoing.”

In February, Caffrey’s contract with the National Park Service — which funded her research position at CU — expired. She declined an interview request from The Post, citing her involvement in legal negotiations.

But earlier this year, Caffrey told Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting that park service officials previously had told her they would hire her for a new project. Upon learning her contract wouldn’t be renewed, she told the news site that she asked her supervisor, “Is this because of the climate change stuff?” She said he responded, “I don’t want to answer that.”

Representatives of the National Parks Service and the Department of Interior could not be reached Friday.

“It is completely unacceptable for this administration to censor scientific climate research,” Neguse said in his statement, adding that it’s “absolutely critical … that researchers at our institutions and our federal labs are free to do their work without the threat of political censorship.”

Reveal last year obtained drafts of Caffrey’s report, and found that park service officials had crossed out five uses of the word “anthropogenic,” which is a term for humans’ impact on nature. Drafts also crossed out references to “human activities” causing climate change, the news outlet reported.

CU Boulder officials said they stood behind Caffrey’s research.

“As a tier-one public research university, we support research that expands human knowledge, broadens our understanding of the natural world and supports the pursuit of scientists working to resolve some of the world’s most challenging issues,” CU spokeswoman Deborah Méndez Wilson said in a statement.

Caffrey was a CU Boulder research associate from 2012 to 2018. During that time, she worked on the National Park Service report providing data on the possible extent of sea level change for coastal national parks. The research began under President Barack Obama’s administration.

The report looks into projected sea level rise at 118 coastal parks in 2030, 2050 and 2100, showing the effects of greenhouse gases depending on the amount of gases emitted.

“It’s important for us for a variety of reasons to better anticipate and understand future projections of flooding and sea level rise of the national parks and other areas of our country and globe,” said William Manley, research scientist at CU’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. “By doing so, we can better anticipate to avoid impacts as well as costs.”

Manley and Lestak were subcontracted to provide data to help Caffrey with her research. Both CU scientists clarified that they were not involved in writing or editing Caffrey’s report.

“We don’t actually have any information about the creation or finalization of the report, internally, within the parks service,” Manley said when asked about the National Park Service censorship allegations.

In January, Caffrey told Reveal that park service officials threatened to kill the report or remove her name if she would not agree to the changes, adding that they could lose their jobs or be transferred if she didn’t comply.

In a Wednesday tweet from Neguse, the congressman said: “Dr. Maria Caffrey, a researcher at CU Boulder, was repeatedly pressured to remove mentions of human-caused climate change from a scientific report on rising sea levels at national parks. She refused. Now her contract is not being renewed. We will not stand for climate censorship.” Elizabeth Hernandez: 303-954-1311, ehernandez @denverpost.com or @ehernandez