Report praises, faults Bush climate panel

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- A U.S. climate research program set up by the Bush administration suffers from changing priorities and lack of authority, a scientific group reported.

The National Academies, a scientific advisory group, credited the Climate Change Science Program with pulling together data that resolved the dispute on whether significant warming is occurring, The New York Times reported. The program was created in 2002 to coordinate government research involving 13 agencies.

But the report also said the program does not have authority to set its own spending priorities. There have also been delays in publication of many of its findings and in passing on information to federal agencies and state and local governments.

John Marburger III, a Bush science adviser, called the report “a thoughtful review” and said officials are already trying deal with many of the problems.