Republican Representative Lamar Smith
Credit: rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com
Leading scientists have accused a Republican-led committee of subjecting climate researchers to politically motivated “harassment” amid an increasingly fractious investigation into the activity of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).
Eight key scientific bodies have written to Republican congressman Lamar Smith, chairman of the House committee on science, to warn that the committee’s inquiry into NOAA could have a “chilling effect on the willingness of government scientists to conduct research that intersects with policy-relevant scientific questions”.
First EPA chief accuses Republicans of ignoring science for political gain
The letter added: “Scientists should not be subjected to fraud investigations or harassment simply for providing scientific results that some may see as politically controversial.
“Science cannot thrive when policymakers – regardless of party affiliation – use policy disagreements as a pretext to attack scientific conclusions without public evidence.”
Concern has mounted among scientists as Smith has pursued Noaa over what he has called “prematurely rushed” climate data that he claims has been used to suit the policy agenda of President Barack Obama.
Smith’s ire has focused upon research led […]
In corporations we are told to have no expectations that our emails inside the company are private. Government employees should not be able to claim that their emails are private, any more than Hillary’s email when she was Secretary of State was private. There is enough dissenting information about climate change to make a case that some scientists or agencies are fiddling with the data to support the political case for climate change.