A Democratic “witch hunt” into scientists who harbor skeptical views on climate change may heat up again in the next few weeks as investigations in both the House and Senate approach their first deadlines.
Democrats in both chambers of Congress leapt at the opportunity to go after the climate skeptics in late February after news reports alleged that companies funded scientists to produce skeptical research on climate change.
One scientist, Wei-Hock “Willie” Soon, had been paid $1.2 million by the fossil fuel industry over the last decade, according to a news article. The report said Soon failed to disclose the payments as a conflict of interest in at least 11 papers he published since 2008 questioning whether the burning of fossil fuels is driving manmade climate change, as many scientists believe.
News coverage of the investigations, however, has tapered back in the last three weeks after receiving big rebukes by Republicans, who are calling the investigations a “witch hunt,” an affront to free speech and wholly unacceptable.
Scientists targeted by the probe also lashed back at Democrats after receiving letters asking them for funding details about which energy companies they have associated with in the course of their work, and if at any time a conflict of interest had arisen.
But Democrats are not discouraged by the flurry of pushback and are continuing with what one Republican called “political theater.”
The Senate is sticking to an April 3 deadline in its probe to hear back from climate skeptics and those that fund their studies. The House deadline for responses is March 16.
Whatever happens after the deadline will depend on the quality of responses the companies provide to the investigation, said a Senate aide close to the investigation.
If the responses are not helpful, then senators will persist until they get the answers they want, the aide added.
The Senate has received some responses, according to a spokesman for Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, who helped initiate the investigation in the upper chamber.
“We have received a handful of responses. And expect to receive the rest by the deadline,” the spokesman said.
Markey, with fellow Democrats Barbara Boxer of California and Sheldon Whitehouse of Delaware, began canvassing groups Feb. 25 by sending more than 100 letters to a variety of energy companies, trade groups and scientific organizations asking for information on studies they funded on climate change.
One of the letters, sent to the president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, requests information showing “payments” made to scientists, scientific organizations and any other effort related to climate change going back a decade.
“As members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, we are interested in how your organization has undertaken such efforts and the degree to which these efforts have been publicly disclosed, particularly in light of recent articles about funding Dr. Willie Soon received from corporations and foundations in support of his work,” the letter reads.
The letters established an April 3 deadline for responses. All three senators serve on the Environment and Public Works Committee, with Boxer is the ranking Democrat on the panel. The panel leads oversight on environmental policy, including climate change issues.
Oklahoma Republican Jim Inhofe, chairman of the committee, who is in his own right a climate skeptic, gave a stiff rebuke to the Democratic effort. A Feb. 27 letter sent by the chairman and 10 other Republicans on the committee to the same 107 groups and scientific organizations called the probe an affront to “scientific inquiry and free speech.”
“The letter you received from our colleagues is a wholly inappropriate effort to challenge these well-accepted truths,” the GOP letter read. “We ask you to not be afraid of political repercussions or public attacks regardless of how you respond.
“Above all, we ask that you continue to support scientific inquiry and discovery, and protect academic freedom despite efforts to chill free speech.”
The House GOP is taking a different tack by ignoring the Democratic probe and moving ahead. The investigation into climate skeptics was initiated in the House before moving to the Senate.
Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, began the probe by sending letters to more than a half dozen universities, requesting information on how they conduct research on climate change and where individual researchers get their funding.
But committee Chairman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, is choosing to dismiss the Democrats’ effort as “political theater,” said a committee spokesman.
“The chairman is not engaging in the investigation, which is simply political theater,” the spokesman said. “Instead Mr. Bishop is focusing on the real issues under the committee’s jurisdiction, including addressing the upcoming forest fire season and promoting reforms based on science-based management practices, increasing energy production in offshore waters and on our federal lands, streamlining permitting, and modernizing up energy, power and water infrastructure.”
