program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Last year, UCS declared that the new DOI scientific integrity policy, as instated by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on September 29, 2010, was "not an agency-wide scientific integrity policy as it states, but rather a scientist misconduct policy". PEER filed an official complaint with the DOI to protest the treatment of Monnett under this suspension and inquiry, asked that Monnett be reinstated and that the investigation be dropped or pursued by specifying charges against Monnett, along with a public apology from BOEMRE and the Inspector General. Outcome In 2012 Monnett was cleared of scientific misconduct in the media. The question whether or not Monnett was guilty of scientific misconduct was never addressed by the Department of the Interior Scientific Integrity Policy, but reprimanded for the improper release of government documents. The documents in question, issued from 2007 to early 2008, had been cited by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in making decisions to vacate BOEMRE's approval of the Shell oil exploration plans in the Beaufort sea. BOEMRE argued that the documents were exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, and thus should not have been disclosed. Monnett and PEER then filed a suit against BOEMRE, arguing that the e-mails he disclosed showed that the agency was breaking laws to push through Arctic offshore drilling permits, and the reprimand thus represented retaliation against a whistleblower. In 2013 BOEMRE settled, claiming that "The settlement document states that it does not constitute any admission of liability and that the agency entered into it to avoid the costs of litigation". However, the Department then removed all reprimand from Monnett's record and awarded him a cash settlement of $100,000. In addition to the other agreements in the settlement, the agency issued a certificate for a conservation award from the secretary of the interior which Monnett won in 2010, but that the agency had removed his name from. References External links Polar Biology article on polar bear mortality by Monnett Living people American ecologists Year of birth missing (living people) University of Minnesota alumni