10.2190/M2VM-5BBR-DWYL-T6AT M2VM5BBRDWYLT6AT 2 Lost Credibility?: Scientists, Advocacy and Acid Rain 249 263 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 M2VM5BBRDWYLT6AT.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=M2VM5BBRDWYLT6AT 3 Leslie R. Alm Boise State University, Idaho Shortly after the passage of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, the March 1991 signing of the United States Air Quality Accord, and the release of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program's Integrated Assessment in November of 1991, there appeared a firestorm of criticism directed at the science of acid rain. Some of the severest criticism came from within the scientific community, as prominent researchers castigated scientists for lacking objectivity, for failing to distinguish between science and policy, and for out-right advocacy of policy positions. the findings of this study, based on interviews of both United States and Canadian scientists in 1997, suggest that while many scientists continue to share these concerns, more and more scientists are viewing advocacy as a moral and civic obligation. <i>Progress Report: Canada-United States Air Quality Agreement</i>, Washington, D. C., p. 5, 1994. O. L. Loucks, Science or Politics? NAPAP and Reagan, <i>Forum For Applied Research and Public Policy, 8</i>, pp. 66-72, Summer 1993. R. M. Pehhac, Making Credible Science Usable: Lessons from CAA, NAPAP, <i>Power Engineering, 94</i>:9, pp. 38-40, 1991. D. W. Schindler, A View of NAPAP from North of the Border, <i>Ecological Applications, 2</i>:2, pp. 124-130, 1992. A. Wohlstetter, Strategy and the Natural Scientists, in <i>Scientists and National Policymaking</i>, R. Gilpin and C. Wright (eds.), Columbia University Press, New York, p. 174, 1964. S. Jasanoff, <i>The Fifth Branch: Science Advisors as Policymakers</i>, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, p. 7, 1990. B. L. Smith, <i>The Advisors: Scientists in the Policy Process</i>, the Brookings Institution, Washington, D. C., p. 3, 1992. K. T. Litfin, <i>Ozone Discourses: Science and Politics in Global Environmental Cooperation</i>, Columbia University Press, New York, p. 9, 1994. A. Wildavsky, <i>But Is It True? A Citizen's Guide to Environmental Health and Safety Issues</i>, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, p. 5, 1995. M. Russell, Lessons from NAPAP, <i>Ecological Applications, 2</i>:2, pp. 107-110, 1992. L. Roberts, Learning from an Acid Rain Program, <i>Science, 251</i>, pp. 1302-1305, 1991. This information came from interviews of scientists (as explained in the text) conducted by the author from March through November 1997. S. Bocking, <i>Ecologists and Environmental Politics: A History of Contemporary Ecology</i>, Yale University Press, New Haven, p. ix, 1997. E. A. Rosa, R. E. Dunlap, and M. E. Kraft, Prospects for Public Acceptance of a High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository in the United States, in <i>Public Reactions to Nuclear Waste: Citizens' Views of Repository Siting</i>, R. E. Dunlap, M. E. Kraft, and E. A. Rosa (eds.), Duke University Press, Durham, pp. 291-324, 1993. W. A. Rosenbaum, <i>Environmental Politics and Policy</i>, CQ Press, Washington, D. C., p. 165, 1995.