Sunday, January 21, 2007
08:27 PM

Grand Canyon employees not "silenced" as PEER claimed: "David Pescovitz:
Last month, I posted about how the Grand Canyon National Park bookstore is still selling a Creationist book claiming that the canyon was formed by Noah's Flood. On December 28, 2006, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) issued a press release complaining about this matter and claiming that a promised National Park Service policy review had never been conducted. It's true that the book is still being sold in the bookstore. However, the PEER press release starts off by stating that the 'Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees.' I didn't post that part of the PEER release and, in fact, a BB reader quickly pointed out that the National Park Service FAQ on the Grand Canyon states very clearly that the canyon is five or six million years old.

Well guess what. It seems that PEER's shocking opening statement that park employees are being silenced to serve some big shots' religious agenda is, well, dubious to say the least. Skeptic magazine publisher Michael Shermer investigated after readers suggested that eSkeptic, which posted highlights from the PEER release, might not have been skeptical enough. From Shermer's column:

The referencing of sources who wish to remain anonymous (like those who PEER executive director Jeff Ruch claimed gave him the information about the silenced park employees) is quite common in journalism and, in fact, there are laws protecting whistleblowers . The fact that no such reference was made until I pointedly accused Ruch of flatout lying makes me, well, skeptical of this explanation. His final statement to me doesn’t make me any less skeptical:



We are issuing an amended release today that


1. deletes reference to what interpretive staff can and cannot say and

2. features the NPS official statement that they provide geological information to the public.

Link to eSkeptic, Link to PEER's 'amdended' press release, Link to an archive of the original PEER press release (Thanks, Randee!)


Previously on BB:

• Grand Canyon bookstore still selling Creationist myth Link

• The Grand Canyon is only a few thousand years old! Link"

(Via Boing Boing.)