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| | | | --- | --- | | Red Rock Eater Digest | Most Recent Article: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 |
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[Many people wrote me in response to the message circulated by Ian
Thomas, the USGS contractor allegedly fired for posting maps of the
Alaska National Wildlife Refuge that undermined the Bush regime's
case for drilling there. Opinions are mixed. Plenty of people have
bad things to say about Mr. Thomas that they have not substantiated
in a public way that I can authenticate. Others see this as the
opening round in a longer war. There does seem to be a legitimate
issue about peer review of scientific material posted on government
Web sites, but it also sounds like a larger management issue and not
something to be firing people over. In any case, I have enclosed
all of the reasonably reliable and useful material that I have
gotten about the case. I can't say that it is deeply fascinating in
its own right, but having sent out the original message I feel some
responsibility to post substantive follow-ups. For another press
report see
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Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 10:22:38 -0500 (EST) From: [an RRE reader]
A little more on Ian Thomas: using http://groups.google.com/, the google usenet search tool, I found a usgs.gov web page that lists Ian Thomas right near the bottom: http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/fundir.htm Also, most of his website at http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/geotech/ is back online (I'm guessing the caribou data is still missing but I don't know how to be sure). For what it's worth, here's the google cache link for the mbr-pwrc website: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/geotech/home.html+&hl=en
Some info from the kuro5hin forum discussion about Ian Thomas http://www.kuro5hin.org/?op=displaystory;sid=2001/3/17/202127/270
According to Ian, these are the exact images he was fired for:
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/geotech/gallery/anwr.gif http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/geotech/gallery/anwr_landsat.gif http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/geotech/gallery/anwrtmzoom.gif http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/geotech/gallery/anwrveg.key.gif http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/geotech/gallery/anwrkey2.gif
There is also a mirror of the gallery directory at http://www.dqc.org/~chris/gis-gallery/ if the main site goes down
Here's a copy of an alert Ian Thomas wrote to prevent the destruction of a early landsat image archive:
http://adis.cesnet.cz/cgi-bin/lwgate/IMAGRS-L/archives/imagrs-l.log0102/date/article-32.html
Again according to Kuro5hin, while the website was down, this message was posted:
The contents of this website are undergoing review and will be reposted once their scientific credibility has been ensured.
Thank you for your patience.
Dr. Jay B. Hestbeck Chief of Research U.S.G.S. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center Laurel, Maryland 20708-4015
Here's the LA Times story about Ian Thomas' firing, dated March 15, 2001 http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/20010315/t000022700.html
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Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 22:17:47 -0500 (EST) From: [another RRE reader]
Your "they put it all back" was premature. They did -not- put back the ANWR maps, and they included a rather mealymouthed disclaimer:
Contents of this website are undergoing review. Datasets that have completed peer review and received Research Program approval have been reposted. Other datasets are still undergoing review and will be reposted as soon as Patuxent can ensure their scientific credibility. Thank you for your patience with our review process.
However, here's more on the story.
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 18:27:02 -0500
From: ericw@peer.org
To:
Dear Friends,
Each of you have written to Ian Thomas in the past week expressing support in the wake of his politically motivated termination as a USGS contractor. In fact, so many hundreds of you wrote that he hasn't been able to send personalized responses out to the vast majority of you. In the meantime, I wanted to send out an update. If you're interested in a summary of Ian's plight, click below.
http://www.peer.org/maps.html
USGS has reposted many of the censored Maps! When Ian was fired last week, his body of work, some 20,000-plus maps were taken off the web as well, supposedly to be "reviewed" for accuracy. The Department of Interior claimed that Ian had overstepped his bounds by creating the maps in the first place. Many of you wrote to Interior demanding that this important data not be lost to the public. The agency has complied--to a degree. A number of Ian's maps are back online. The reposting effectively undercuts their very reasoning for terminating Ian in the first place. You can view these maps at:
www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/geotech
Of course, the maps of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that led to Ian's termination are still missing from the USGS site. If you are interested in seeing the maps that cost a government scientist his job, check out Ian's new website:
www.maptricks.com/
Data censorship and the suppression of science are extremely grave issues. In the wake of Ian Thomas's termination, PEER is launching a new campaign to encourage Gale Norton's Department of Interior and the US Congress 1) advocate for an open exchange of governmental scientific and mapping data and 2) issue a policy of non-retaliation against government scientists who display or exchange such data.
If you are a government map specialist or other scientist, and have experience censorship first-hand, PEER would like to hear your story. All communications with PEER are completely confidential. PEER does not sell, trade, or otherwise disclose the names or addresses of our members or mailing lists for any reason.
Thank you for your time, interest, and support.
Sincerely,
Eric Wingerter Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility 2001 S Street NW, Suite 570 Washington, DC 20009 (202) 265-7337 ericw@peer.org www.peer.org
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Check out the LA Times story at www.latimes.com/news/nation/20010315/t000022700.html
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Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001 08:05:44 -0500 From: [yet another RRE reader]
When I checked, the maps were not there. I did however find an undocumented index [http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/geotech/index.jeh.html] that had links to all of the maps except for the ANWR maps. From what I can see of the site this morning [3/21/01], the only maps that are left are what I gather are officially sanctioned works. The URL I list above has links to many more maps that can not normally be gotten to. If Ian or some enterprising person were to use a tool to copy the website, all but the ANWR data could be retrieved.
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 21:58:50 -0500
From: Trudy P Harlow
Dear [xxxxx]
Your email was referred to me for response.
Mr. Thomas was not a Federal employee, thus could not have been fired by the U.S. Geological Survey. The contract "task order" that USGS had with his employing company was cancelled. USGS has not been advised of Mr. Thomas' status with his company.
The task order -- which was clearly defined and primarily for geographic information systems work on "the ecology and population dynamics of migratory birds" -- was cancelled because the contractor was operating outside the scope of the contract. In working on large mammal species such as caribou, African mammals and tigers, the contractor exceeded the scope of the task order and was in violation of Federal contracting regulations.
In addition, in direct conflict with the clearly understood standard operating procedures of the USGS and the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Mr. Thomas did not have his products scientifically reviewed or approved by the Research Program before posting them on our Federal website. As a result, not only did material that was inappropriate to USGS' Patuxent Wildlife Research Center get posted on their website, but the USGS could not guarantee the scientific integrity of the material.
The resolution of the matter concerning the activities of the contractor was handled internally by USGS contracting officers without any involvement from the Office of the Secretary of the Interior. In addition, there has been no official guidance from the Secretary affecting the release of information to the public about any aspects of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other Interior agencies have continued to provide information about ANWR studies to Congress, reporters and other interested parties as requested, with the full support of Interior officials.
Because there is high interest in this subject, these allegations make great reading. In this case, however, there is little fact, but mostly fiction.
Trudy Harlow USGS Public Affairs Officer ```
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