As Climate Wars Heat Up, Some Skeptics AreTargetsMARCH 10, 2015 4:38 PM ET

GEOFF BRUMFIEL

Audio for this story from All Things Considered will be available at approximately 7:00 p.m. ET.

Climate skeptic Willie Soon has argued in the past that too much ice is bad for polar bears. An investigation into Soon'sfunding found he took money from the fossil fuel industry and did not always disclose that source.iStockphoto

Scientists who warn that the earth's climate is changing have been subjected tohacking, hate mail, and even court action in recent years. That ire usually comes fromconservative groups and climate skeptics seeking to discredit the research findings.

- Roger Pielke Jr.,University ofColorado

"If you comeand testifybefore the U.S.Congress, andpeople don'tlike whatyou're saying,they can makeyour life prettymiserable."

Now it appears that liberals and environmentalistsmay be using some of the same tactics against thehandful of scientists who either deny climate changeoutright, or think the risks are not as great as stated.

The goal, according to those pursuing the skeptics ofclimate change, is to expose ties between thosescientists and industry. But some mainstreamclimate scientists are nervous, fearing thatinvestigations by both sides may be more aboutintimidation than truth.

The first target of the latest attacks was Willie Soon,a solar physicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center

for Astrophysics. Soon claims the sun causes climate change. In contrast, almost allscientists believe humans are changing the climate.

Soon's views got the attention of Kert Davies, the executive director of the non-profitClimate Investigations Center. He decided to use the Freedom of Information Act toexpose the climate skeptic's funding. "We got the contracts, Soon's proposals to get themoney from these various oil companies and power companies and also his year-endreports," says Davies.

In several year-end reports to the utility Southern Company, Soon listed peer-reviewed scientific articles as deliverables. "He is telling them, here's what I did foryou, I wrote peer-reviewed science," Davies says.

Publishing those articles without disclosing Southern Company's funding is a big no-no in science. In late February, Soon's ties made the front page of the New York

Times. Several journals and his employer have launched investigations. Soon did notrespond to an NPR request for an interview. But, in a written statement, he calls theaccusation "underhanded and unscientific."

Shortly after Soon's ties to industry were exposed, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz.,sent letters to the universities of seven climate researchers, asking for details about thescientists' funding.

Roger Pielke Jr., a researcher at the University of Colorado, is one of seven scientists being scrutinized by a congressmanbecause of statements on climate change.International Council for Science/Flickr

Among those named was Roger Pielke Jr., from the University of Colorado. UnlikeSoon, Pielke does believe the climate is changing due to human influences, but hedoesn't necessarily believe it will be catastrophic. The two-page letter on Pielke cited

testimony he had given to Congress, and it requested detailed information andcorrespondence regarding his funding sources.

"It's quite simple for me to respond to this, because I have absolutely no corporateconnections," Pielke says. "I mean I'm as clean as they come."

Nevertheless, the letter sends a chilling message to scientists, he says. "If you comeand testify before the U.S. Congress, and people don't like what you're saying, they canmake your life pretty miserable."

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Other recipients of the letter agree that it constituteslittle more than harassment. "They just assume thatif I have the view I have, I must be getting paid forthat view," says John Christy of the University ofAlabama at Huntsville. Christy adds that all of hisfunding is from State and Federal sources.

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"It's a complete fishing expedition," says JudithCurry, a professor at the Georgia Institute ofTechnology, who has doubts about climate change.

In a strange twist, the climate skeptics are gettingsupport from mainstream climate scientists, whoworry that investigations on both sides of the debatetread on the academic freedom of researcherseverywhere.

"We do have the right as citizens to try and find out what's going on with the fundingof scientists," says Eric Steig, a climate researcher at the University of Washington anda contributor to the blog Real Climate. But Steig worries that some of the newinvestigations might cross the line into harassment, a tactic that has been used by thepolitical right against mainstream scientists, including himself.

"It was wrong when it was done by Republicans and right-wing think tanks, and it'swrong when it's done by Democrats and left-wing think tanks," he says.

Steig is not alone in his concern over the new attacks. The American MeteorologicalSociety and the American Geophysical Union have also been critical of the letters.

Congressman Grijalva says he wasn't trying to target scientists simply because theydisagree with his views on climate change. "But I also want to make sure that if that'sthe basis for formation of policy, that it's clean and that it's empirical," he says.

Kert Davies, the environmentalist who investigated Soon, says he wants to see more ofthis kind of work from the left: "I would like to send the same letters to a lot of otherscientists, many of whom don't work for public institutions," he says.

There may be more revelations to come: three Democratic senators have sent aseparate letter to 100 corporations and think tanks, asking them to disclose corporateties to scientists they fund.

Few think that either side of the political fight over climate change will abandon toughtactics, however. In the fall, world leaders meet in Paris, to try and reach a deal onclimate. Eric Steig says he hopes the run-up to the summit will be civil. But, he adds, "Ithink it's wishful thinking."

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