A group of researchers handpicked by Energy Secretary Chris Wright to write a report critical of mainstream climate science plan to continue their work outside the federal government, one of its members said Wednesday.
The pledge follows a decision last week by the Department of Energy to dismantle the group in the face of legal challenges. The Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists have sued DOE over its formation, claiming the agency violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act in setting up the group.
Now one of the group’s five members said the team has registered the website ClimateWorkingGroup.com, where they plan to respond to hundreds of public comments that have been submitted in response to their report.
The researcher — Judith Curry, a former Georgia Tech climatologist — said she was frustrated the DOE had not properly set up the group to follow federal laws. She said paperwork errors were to blame.
“The intention for the climate working group was for us to be affiliated with the DOE for a short time to put this together,” she said Wednesday in an interview. “And they really didn’t dot all the I’s and cross the T’s.
“The DOE dropped the ball on really making us an official group affiliated with the DOE, rather than, you know, just sort of an ad hoc group,” she added.
The DOE did not respond to a request for comment.
Curry worked with four other researchers to write a 141-page report that sought to cast doubt on the fundamentals of mainstream climate science, including the link between humanity’s burning of fossil fuels and extreme weather events. The report has been used to support EPA’s efforts to roll back the legal backbone of climate regulations.
Climate scientists, including many whose work was cited in the DOE report, responded to the findings with a 450-page rebuttal that pointed out its flaws and reliance on cherry-picking and misleading statements.
The DOE effort also has been the target of legal action.
The Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists argued in a legal filing Wednesday that their suit should not be dismissed simply because the DOE disbanded the group.
They said the process of compiling the report was tainted because the DOE “brazenly violated” the law. And they argued the report “was subject to inappropriate influence from Secretary Wright.”
“They constituted the Climate Working Group (CWG) in secret, had it meet in secret to produce a report with advice and recommendations for policymakers, and then provided the report to EPA in secret for use in a proposal to rescind EPA’s Endangerment Finding,” the groups wrote. “Defendants present no serious argument that they did not violate FACA in taking all of these actions.”
There will be a hearing Thursday in the case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Even though the Climate Working Group is no longer officially affiliated with the DOE, Curry said the team has vowed to continue its work in the months ahead.
“The five of us decided that we have unfinished business, personally, as scientists, and we will respond to the serious comments and we will prepare a revised report,” she said.
She said part of that effort will include a plan to conduct a hostile review of the National Climate Assessment, a congressionally mandated report put together by hundreds of scientists.
Steve Koonin, one of the five authors of the DOE report, said he hopes to hold a public debate on climate science after the group has completed its work.
