Frederick Steven "Rick" Piltz (July 29, 1943 – October 18, 2014) was a former senior associate in the U.S.

Climate Change Science Program The Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) was the program responsible for coordinating and integrating research on global warming by U.S. government agencies from February 2002 to June 2009. Toward the end of that period, CCSP issued 21 separate c ...

. In March 2005, he resigned over political interference in the program's climate change reports. In June 2005, the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

exposed the role of

Philip Cooney Philip A. Cooney (born July 16, 1959) is a former member of the administration of United States President George W. Bush. Before being appointed to chair the Council on Environmental Quality, he was a lawyer and lobbyist for the American Petrol ...

in editing government documents on

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

to create an appearance of scientific uncertainty. A former

lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

with the

American Petroleum Institute The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the largest U.S. trade association for the oil and natural gas industry. It claims to represent nearly 600 corporations involved in production, refinement, distribution, and many other aspects of the ...

, Cooney resigned and days later took a job at Exxon Mobil. Piltz went on to found Climate Science Watch, a project to hold public officials accountable for using

climate science Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of stu ...

with integrity in

policy making Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an orga ...

. Climate Science Watch is a program of the

Government Accountability Project The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is a nonprofit whistleblower protection and advocacy organization in the United States. It was founded in 1977. Activities In 1992, GAP represented Aldric Saucier, who had lost his job and security c ...

, a

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

protection agency in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Politicization of science

Piltz spent 14 years in various positions in Washington closely following how global warming science is misused by the government and special interest groups. From 1995, he served in senior positions in the Climate Change Science Program, before resigning in March 2005. In his resignation letter, he wrote, "I believe the overarching problem is that the ushAdministration...does not want and has acted to impede forthright communication of the state of climate science and its implication for society." Within months, the ''New York Times'' exposed White House operative

for editing government climate documents to increase

uncertainty Uncertainty refers to epistemic situations involving imperfect or unknown information. It applies to predictions of future events, to physical measurements that are already made, or to the unknown. Uncertainty arises in partially observable ...

about the science. Cooney resigned and joined Exxon Mobil. Piltz also states that forces within the Bush Administration have sought to hide the results from the

National Assessment on Climate Change The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is a United States government interagency ongoing effort on climate change science conducted under the auspices of the Global Change Research Act of 1990. The NCA is a major product of the U.S. Global Change Re ...

Government watchdog

Piltz founded Climate Science Watch in the summer of 2005. The group tracks and investigates climate science policy developments in the news and occasionally publishes leaked documents from government

insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

s. Piltz testified twice before

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

since creating Climate Science Watch.

Personal life

Piltz was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. In October 2014, Piltz died at a hospice in

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become ma ...

at the age of 71. Piltz was a B.A. (1965), M.A. (1967) graduate of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. Since going public with the White House's attempts to undermine the science on climate change, Piltz has been interviewed by a number of media venues including '' 60 Minutes'', '' Frontline'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

'', the ''

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

'', and the science journal ''

Environmental Science & Technology ''Environmental Science & Technology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal published since 1967 by the American Chemical Society. It covers research in environmental science and environmental technology, including environmental policy. ...

''. He is also a central character in the award winning documentary '' Everything's Cool''

Awards

Piltz was awarded the Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling in 2006 for his work to prevent the politicization of climate science reporting in the federal government. The prize is awarded to a citizen, corporate, or government whistleblower,

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

, or organization for bringing a specific issue of social importance to the public's attention."Ridenhour Prize for Truth Telling"
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References

External links

;Media appearance
"Frontline: Hot Politics"
January 2007 interview with Rick Piltz about White House interference with government climate change programs.
"Out of Balance: ExxonMobil's Impact on Climate Change"

November 2006, Piltz speaks with the

about industry's strategy to manufacture uncertainty.
"Rewriting the Science"
60 Minutes, July 30, 2006.
"Blowing the Whistle on Climate Change: Interview with Rick Piltz"
''Environmental Science & Technology'', June 22, 2005. ;Other links

''

'', June 8, 2005. * ttps://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/politics/11cooney.long.html?ei=5088&en=ed76c8cb7d540f10&ex=1276142400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print "Editor of Climate Reports Resigns"''New York Times'', June 10, 2005.
Climate Science Watch:
a government watchdog.
Piltz testimony before House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
January, 2007.
Declaration filed by Piltz
in support of lawsuit to compel the Bush Administration to perform a national climate change impact assessment. *
Appearances on C-SPAN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piltz, Rick S. 1943 births 2014 deaths American whistleblowers University of Michigan alumni Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C. Deaths from bladder cancer