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progree

(10,901 posts)
Sun Sep 13, 2020, 12:48 PM Sep 2020

Longtime climate science denier hired at NOAA (David Legates)

David Legates, a University of Delaware professor of climatology who has spent much of his career questioning basic tenets of climate science, has been hired for a top position at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Legates confirmed to NPR that he was recently hired as NOAA's deputy assistant secretary of commerce for observation and prediction. The position suggests that he reports directly to Neil Jacobs, the acting head of the agency that is in charge of the federal government's sprawling weather and climate prediction work.

(snip)

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.
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Longtime climate science denier hired at NOAA (David Legates) (Original Post) progree Sep 2020 OP
Kick and recommend for visibility bronxiteforever Sep 2020 #1
What? Newest Reality Sep 2020 #2
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