The chairman of the House science committee is pressuring Commerce Secretary Penny Prizker in his ongoing quest to root out political machinations in a government study that erased previous beliefs about a pause in global warming.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, sent the letter Wednesday asking Pritzker to force the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to comply with a subpoena he sent last month. Smith is seeking communications by government employees who were connected with the study, including scientists and other people related to the study’s release.
In his latest letter to Pritzker, Smith threatened to use “compulsory process” to get the documents he wants.
The chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee said whistleblowers told him the study was “rushed” to publication “before all appropriate reviews of the underlying science and new methodologies” were completed.
Smith also hinted at what he hopes to find in the communications, saying administration employees sent emails questioning the study’s release.
“More troubling, it appears that NOAA employees raised concerns about the timing and readiness of the study’s release through emails, including several communications just before its publication in April, May and June of 2015,” he wrote.
The study reported the rate of global warming in the last 15 years has been as fast, if not faster than, the rate of global warming during the latter half of the 20th century.
As a part of the study, researcher Thomas Karl used temperatures from 30,000 surface stations, as compared to the 7,000 stations used in older studies. The data also included temperatures from 2014, the hottest year on record.
Smith believes the study is being used as a political tool to justify President Obama’s Clean Power Plan cutting carbon emissions from power plants, which was announced shortly after the study was made public.
The Clean Power Plan is widely seen as Obama’s signature environmental regulation. It’s also the centerpiece of the administration’s proposal for the global climate talks in Paris being held at the end of the month.
NOAA officials have said they will not comply with the subpoena because it will not reveal communications that could contain scientific discussions.
Smith, a climate change doubter, has taken criticism from many for a perceived “witch hunt” on scientists who have published findings with which he disagrees.
However, those close to the committee say the investigation is a necessary part of its oversight activities and is not targeting scientists. They point out the subpoena is asking for all communications by government employees who were connected with the study and its public release, not just the scientists who worked on it.
