| December 2, 2009 |  |
Members of Congress Advance Climate Change Conspiracy Theories
WASHINGTON (December 2, 2009) — Today, opponents of climate legislation used a Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing to forward conspiracy theories about stolen e-mails from climate scientists. Presidential Science Advisor John Holdren and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Jane Lubchenco dismissed erroneous claims from members of Congress and reiterated the evidence underpinning modern climate science. Later today, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is expected to use a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing to advance similar misleading charges.
Below is a statement by Brenda Ekwurzel, a climate scientist in the Union of Concerned Scientists' Climate and Energy Program:
"Opponents of climate change legislation are trying to deceive the American public on climate science. After years attacking the science on its merits and failing, they're now using stolen e-mails to attack climate scientists directly.
"Our understanding of climate science is based on decades of research from thousands of scientists. These e-mails don't affect what we know about human activity driving dangerous levels of global warming or the measures we must take to address it.
"Senators and members of Congress should stop spreading conspiracy theories."
The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading U.S. science-based nonprofit organization working for a healthy environment and a safer world. Founded in 1969, UCS is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Berkeley, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
