The Associated Press

    Monday 23 October 2006

    Silver Spring, Maryland - Two environmentalists spent about four hours Monday perched on a ledge over an entrance to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building to protest what they said is the agency's suppression of information on global warming.

    The pair unfurled a banner that read "Bush: Let NOAA Tell the Truth," while a small group of demonstrators handed out fliers on a nearby sidewalk.

    Police eventually used a cherry picker from a nearby construction site to reach the demonstrators and lower them to the ground. Both men, Ted Glick, 56, and Paul Burman, 23, were charged with disorderly conduct, reckless endangerment and trespassing.

    NOAA, based in Silver Spring, studies climate, weather and the oceans. Its agencies include the National Weather Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

    The demonstrators said they were part of the US Climate Emergency Council and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. The groups claim NOAA denies scientific evidence that recent severe weather, such as powerful hurricanes, is caused by climate change. They also allege NOAA withholds proof of this effect.

    "People are seeing that the climate is changing," said Mike Tidwell, head of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. "A grass roots movement is emerging from that."

    The two men charged had climbed up to the ledge using a ladder and had suction cups to anchor themselves to a window.

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