Scientist whose climate change research on polar bears was cited by Al Gore will face lie detector test over 'integrity issues'

By Laurie Whitwell for the Daily Mail
Updated: 12:29 EDT, 30 October 2011

A wildlife scientist, whose report on dead polar bears in Arctic waters became a rallying call for climate change campaigners, will face a lie detector test as part of an investigation by federal agents.

Jeffrey Gleason, who co-wrote a 2006 report highlighting the danger posed to the animals by melting ice, will take a polygraph over alleged scientific misconduct connected to the study, the Independent reported.

It is the latest twist to what some have dubbed 'Polarbeargate' in which Mr Gleason and his co-author Charles Monnett, whose research was cited by Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth and made polar bears a symbol of global warming, have been repeatedly questioned by authorities.

'Polarbeargate': Jeffrey Gleason, whose 2006 research on polar bears made them a symbol of climate change, will face a polygraph test with federal agents

Their supporters claim the investigation is nothing more than a witch-hunt geared towards intimidating researchers whose studies might affect the politics of climate change.

The pair's 2006 report told of dead bears floating in the Arctic Ocean in 2004, apparently drowned having been forced to swim further for food.

But earlier this year, allegations were made within the U.S. Department of the Interior over 'integrity issues' in relation to the report, and the Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) began an inquiry.

Mr Monnett, an Arctic wildlife biologist with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), a Department of the Interior agency, became the focus of the inquiry and was interviewed several times by OIG agents.

On July 18 he was suspended and put on administrative leave during which he was forbidden from speaking to colleagues or entering any Interior offices. Mr Monnett returned to work on August 25.

The OIG said the suspension came after worries about a research contract he had been involved in awarding, and not his polar bear article.

But some pressure groups alleged the episode had more a more sinister motive.

Global warming: Al Gore cited the research in his film An Inconvenient Truth, and the scientists supporters say the investigation is a witch-hunt

'There's no way this can have anything but a chilling effect on the ability of other scientists to carry out their work,' Kassie Siegel, director of the Climate Law Institute with the Centre for Biological Diversity, said at the time.

A group of Australian scientists sent a letter to President Obama, stating: 'This seems like the type of anti-science action that would have occurred under your predecessor and is similar to actions more expected in the pre-1989 Soviet Union.'

Attention had now turned to Mr Gleason, who was interviewed earlier this year, the Independent reported.

This week Mr Gleason was interviewed intensively by investigators and asked if he would take a polygraph test, the paper said.

He replied that he would but only if the agent interviewing him did the same.

'There appears to be kind of a desperate, almost fierce nature to pursue this until they find something,' Mr Gleason's lawyer, Jeff Ruch, of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, told the Independent.

Mr Ruch accuses the investigators of taking issues brought up during the typical peer-review process and acting as though they are evidence of wrongdoing, the paper reported.

He has filed a complaint with the department, saying the matter should be investigated not by the OIG, but a review performed by other scientists.