- Oct 17, 2011
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With five named cyclonic storms simultaneously in the Atlantic (2nd time that's ever been recorded) and a wildfire season for the ages in the West, Trump has put the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a scientific agency responsible for the National Weather Service and other important operations in the hands of someone who questions the severity of climate change. This, of course, goes hand in hand with Trump's recent statement that science 'doesn't know' about climate.
LINK
NOAA taps David Legates, professor who questions the seriousness and severity of global warming, for top role
Critics fear move could threaten the scientific integrity of one of the country’s foremost climate research agencies.
Legates was formerly Delaware’s state climatologist, a position from which he he stepped down in 2011. He had come under pressure from then-Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (D), because of his fossil fuel industry-funded research casting doubt on the science showing that burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels is the main factor behind heating the planet and would lead to dangerous effects such as sea level rise and extreme weather events.
Legates is affiliated with the Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank funded in part by the fossil fuel industry that supports research arguing that human-caused climate change is not a serious threat.
Legates’s arrival at NOAA comes a year after the agency’s scientific independence took a hit when the agency criticized its own forecasters’ accurate forecast for Hurricane Dorian to satisfy White House concerns that its communications were making the president look bad for having claimed, erroneously, that the storm would threaten Alabama.
Watchdogs such as Gretchen Goldman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a research and advocacy group, said they fear that Legates’s appointment signals a new level of interference in the agency’s scientific work.
“This is a disappointing move. It is a slap in the face to NOAA scientists who work daily to conduct and communicate climate science to the public and decision makers,” Goldman said in an email. “Until now, NOAA has largely evaded the kind of anti-science political appointees that have devastated the EPA and Interior. With Dr. Legates we risk seeing the same kind of politicization of science and corruption of ethics. At the same time, NOAA has a strong culture of scientific integrity; Dr Legates must be ready to uphold it.”
On Monday, the American Geophysical Union, which is the world’s largest scientific society representing Earth and space sciences, publicly urged that Legates’ appointment be rescinded. “With climate change producing raging wildfires in the western United States and devastating hurricanes in the Atlantic, our nation – and the world – cannot afford to have our federal government undermining the important work of climate scientists,” wrote Randy Fiser, the group’s executive director and CEO.
LINK
NOAA taps David Legates, professor who questions the seriousness and severity of global warming, for top role
Critics fear move could threaten the scientific integrity of one of the country’s foremost climate research agencies.
Legates was formerly Delaware’s state climatologist, a position from which he he stepped down in 2011. He had come under pressure from then-Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (D), because of his fossil fuel industry-funded research casting doubt on the science showing that burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels is the main factor behind heating the planet and would lead to dangerous effects such as sea level rise and extreme weather events.
Legates is affiliated with the Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank funded in part by the fossil fuel industry that supports research arguing that human-caused climate change is not a serious threat.
Legates’s arrival at NOAA comes a year after the agency’s scientific independence took a hit when the agency criticized its own forecasters’ accurate forecast for Hurricane Dorian to satisfy White House concerns that its communications were making the president look bad for having claimed, erroneously, that the storm would threaten Alabama.
Watchdogs such as Gretchen Goldman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a research and advocacy group, said they fear that Legates’s appointment signals a new level of interference in the agency’s scientific work.
“This is a disappointing move. It is a slap in the face to NOAA scientists who work daily to conduct and communicate climate science to the public and decision makers,” Goldman said in an email. “Until now, NOAA has largely evaded the kind of anti-science political appointees that have devastated the EPA and Interior. With Dr. Legates we risk seeing the same kind of politicization of science and corruption of ethics. At the same time, NOAA has a strong culture of scientific integrity; Dr Legates must be ready to uphold it.”
On Monday, the American Geophysical Union, which is the world’s largest scientific society representing Earth and space sciences, publicly urged that Legates’ appointment be rescinded. “With climate change producing raging wildfires in the western United States and devastating hurricanes in the Atlantic, our nation – and the world – cannot afford to have our federal government undermining the important work of climate scientists,” wrote Randy Fiser, the group’s executive director and CEO.