Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., a liberal conservationist and avowed opponent of expanded offshore drilling, charges that spin control won out over scientific reasoning during discussions late last summer about how much oil remained in the Gulf. The congressman went so far as to liken Obama's handling of scientific information to that of his predecessor, Republican George W. Bush, often accused by Democrats of placing his political agenda ahead of science.

Grijalva was joined by the watchdog group Project On Government Oversight, or POGO, which said it was disturbed by e-mails indicating the "White House may have ignored expert advice from agency officials and pressured scientists to make changes ... to advance a public relations agenda."

But those assertions were rejected by one of the top scientists in the government's oil spill response -- Bill Lehr, senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who represents a union of more than 1,000 federal scientists and engineers. He said he fights to make sure union members can operate "free of political influence," and believes the Obama administration ensured scientists had independence and a strong voice throughout the oil spill response.

Read the complete story from The Times-Picayune.