(AP) The White House is defending the changes made to government reports on global warming by a former oil industry lobbyist turned White House official.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the changes that were made play up doubts on whether so-called "greenhouse gases" from human activity really cause climate change.

But Press Secretary Scott McClellan says the resulting reports were still "scientifically sound."

The changes were made by Philip Cooney, who led the American Petroleum Institute's fight against greenhouse gas limits before he joined President Bush's Council on Environmental Quality in 2001.

The Times documents several handwritten notes by Cooney on drafts of reports issued in 2002 and 2003. Cooney removed or adjusted descriptions of climate research that government scientists and their supervisors, including some senior Bush administration officials, had already approved.

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