The days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over

Yesterday I had a chance to attend President Obama's speech to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). This is the first time since JFK that the president has addressed the Academy during his first 100 days in office and President Obama used the occasion to set a goal of increasing national investments in science and technology to 3 percent of GDP-a level not seen since the Kennedy administration's post-Sputnik push.

Naturally the nation's top scientists in attendance loved this, but the biggest applause line in the speech was

On March 9th, I signed an executive memorandum with a clear message: Under my administration, the days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over. Our progress as a nation - and our values as a nation - are rooted in free and open inquiry. To undermine scientific integrity is to undermine our democracy. It is contrary to our way of life.

After eight long years when we were lucky if science was in the back seat rather than left in the dust, President Obama has turned the country in a dramatic new direction during his first 100 days in office. Here is a sampling of some of his more significant moves:

Appointing a scientific dream team: John Holdren as Science Advisor, Steve Chu as Secretary of Energy, and Jane Lubchenco as Administrator of NOAA. All world class scientists and inspired choices.

Restoring the rule of law and the role of science at EPA. In her first act as Administrator Lisa Jackson sent a message to all EPA employees laying out her priorities. First and foremost that EPA policy would be driven by science and would follow the law. On her first full day on the job the president directed her to reconsider the Bush administration's refusal to allow California to implement its clean car law. More recently she proposed a formal finding that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. Exactly what the law and science require.

Investing in clean energy and economic recovery. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus bill, provides the largest single investment in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable transportation systems in American history. This legislation has already put people to work manufacturing high-efficiency windows, insulating homes, and installing wind turbines.

Laying the foundation for healthy economic growth. President Obama's budget establishes three domestic priorities that he advances at every opportunity, including his address to the NAS yesterday: clean energy, health care reform, and investing in education. There can be no sustainable prosperity in America or anywhere else unless we get these three things right.

Solving global warming. Public investments in clean energy through the stimulus bill and the budget can only take us so far. President Obama understands that we also have to mobilize private investments by closing the carbon loophole that allows energy companies to dump unlimited amounts of heat-trapping pollution into our atmosphere for free. He used his first address to a joint session of Congress to call for legislation to make clean energy the profitable kind and cut carbon pollution 80 percent by midcentury.

This is a great start. With President Obama's continued leadership I'm convinced that we can enact comprehensive energy and climate legislation this year that will not only put science in the front seat, but will also restore American leadership in the world.

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