Virginia’s crusading attorney general faces a flashing stop sign in his pursuit of a leading climate scientist. On Friday, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the attorney general, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, does not have the authority to demand records of e-mails or grant applications sent by the scientist, Michael E. Mann, who formerly taught at the university and is now a professor at Penn State.
Mr. Cuccinelli has sought since 2010 to force the University of Virginia to release documents for five grant applications made by Dr. Mann and all related e-mails between the professor, research assistants and other scientists, saying that he suspected that Dr. Mann used fraudulent climate data to secure grants.
A lower court denied the request, saying that Mr. Cuccinelli presented nothing to back up his accusation. The attorney general appealed to the state Supreme Court.
Dr. Mann has long been a target of climate change skeptics like Mr. Cuccinelli, in part because the professor is the author of influential research charting a marked rise in global temperatures since the beginning of the 20th century. Mr. Cuccinelli, a conservative Republican, argues that there is no persuasive evidence that human activity is warming the planet.
Comments
So Dr. Mann is telling us that all the filth mankind has heaped upon the oceans, land, and air is not a problem. That tells me to disregard Dr. Mann.
Mr. Showalter, you would probably agree with the Native American sentiment that “We do not own the land, we borrow it from our children.” I am afraid you have misunderstood the dynamic history of this controversy and have paradoxically misstated the case you wished to make. Revisit the principals and the issues in the article and reconsider on whose side of this fence you stand. Do this for your children and theirs.
Leave a Comment