Climate Science Contrarian Installed in Upper-Level NOAA Position

[jayfish]

Source: Ars Technica

he US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently hired a new person in an upper-level deputy assistant secretary position. Normally, this would not be too surprising or newsworthy, but this is an exception. Joining NOAA as the “Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction” is University of Delaware Professor David Legates—a well-known contrarian who rejects the science of human-caused climate change.

The position apparently reports to acting head of NOAA Neil Jacobs, although the circumstances of the hire are unknown. Ars asked NOAA about the duties of this position, but the agency has not responded. Jacobs was entangled in the fallout from President Trump’s inaccurate tweets about Hurricane Dorian that culminated in a forecast map doctored with a black marker. A pair of investigations found that Jacobs capitulated to directives from the office of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and the White House, releasing an unsigned NOAA statement that sought to rescue the president’s inaccurate statements by mildly admonishing the forecasters who corrected him

Read more: https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/09/climate-science-contrarian-installed-in-upper-level-noaa-position/

[bronxiteforever]

1. Kick and recommend for visibility

[progree]

2. Some additional info from NPR - he's the "real thing"

In 2007, Legates was one of the authors of a paper that questioned previous findings about the role of climate change in destroying the habitat of polar bears. That research was partially funded by grants from Koch Industries, the lobbying group the American Petroleum Institute and ExxonMobil, according to InsideClimate News.

(snip)

Legates also appeared in a video pushing the discredited theory that the sun is the cause of global warming. In testimony before the U.S. Senate in 2014, Legates argued that a climate science report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change erroneously stated that humans are causing global warming.

(snip)

Michael Mann: "At a time when those impacts are playing out before our very eyes in the form of unprecedented wildfires out West and super-storms back East, I cannot imagine a more misguided decision than to appoint someone like Legates to a position of leadership at an agency that is tasked with assessing the risks we face from extreme weather events."

Read more (NPR): https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/09/12/npr-longtime-climate-science-denier-hired-at-noaa

Yes, he's funded by fossil fuel interests and affiliated with the Heartland Institute, a leading climate denial think tank.

[Mike 03]

3. NOAA is one of the few government agencies left that can still be embarrassed

by information like this getting into the mainstream news. If you're on Twitter, tweet to @NOAA and try to get the word around.