More than 140 Organizations and Individuals Join CEI Letter to White House Backing Climate Review Panel
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), joined by 36 organizations and more than 100 individuals, sent a letter today to President Trump expressing strong support for the proposed President’s Commission on Climate Security. The proposed commission, which would be directed by world-renowned physicist Dr. William Happer of the National Security Council staff, would consist of a small number of distinguished experts on climate-related science and national security. It would conduct an independent review of the science underpinning the fourth National Climate Assessment and other official reports on climate change and its implications for national security.
Signatories to the letter include 37 free market, conservative, and scientific organizations and more than 100 individuals, including one Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Ivar Giaever, and a number of other prominent scientists.
Director of CEI’s Center for Energy and Environment Myron Ebell said, “If the alarmists are truly confident in their claims, they should welcome a review which would put to rest the doubts that have been expressed by climate skeptics. The opposition to a critical review suggests that the alarmists know their case is built on hot air and not on sound science.”
The signatories write:
“In our view, an independent review of these reports is long overdue. Serious problems and shortcomings have been raised repeatedly in the past by highly-qualified scientists only to be ignored or dismissed by the federal agencies in charge of producing the reports. Among major issues that have been raised and that we hope the commission will scrutinize: the models used have assumed climate sensitivities to CO2 concentrations significantly higher than recent research warrants; the models used have predicted much more warming than has actually occurred; predictions of the negative impacts of global warming have been made based on implausible high-end emissions scenarios; the positive impacts of warming have been ignored or minimized; and surface temperature data sets have been manipulated to show more rapid warming than has actually occurred. An underlying issue that we hope the commission will also address is the fact that so many of the scientific claims made in these reports and by many climate scientists are not falsifiable, that is, they cannot be tested by the scientific method.”
…
“The conclusions and predictions made by these reports are the basis for proposed energy policies that could cost trillions of dollars in less than a decade and tens of trillions of dollars over several decades. Given the magnitude of the potential costs involved, we think that taking the insular processes of official, consensus science on trust, as has been the case for the past three decades, is negligent and imprudent. In contrast, major engineering projects are regularly subjected to the most rigorous and exhaustive adversarial review. We suggest that climate science requires at least the same level of scrutiny as the engineering employed in building a bridge or a new airplane.
“We note that defenders of the climate consensus have already mounted a public campaign against the proposed commission. We find this opposition curious. If the defenders are confident that the science contained in official reports is robust, then they should welcome a review that would finally put to rest the doubts that have been raised. On the other hand, their opposition could be taken as evidence that the scientific basis of the climate consensus is in fact highly suspect and cannot withstand critical review.”
You can read the full letter on CEI.org <link> or below:
Washington, DC
18th March 2019
The Honorable Donald J. Trump
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W.
Washington, DC 20500
Via e-mail
Dear President Trump,
The undersigned organizations and individuals write to express our strong support for the proposed President’s Commission on Climate Security. It is our understanding that this commission, which is being planned and would be directed by Dr. William Happer of the National Security Council staff, is currently being considered by your senior White House staff and relevant Cabinet secretaries and agency heads. The commission would consist of a small number of distinguished experts on climate-related science and national security. It would be charged with conducting an independent, high-level review of the Fourth National Climate Assessment and other official reports relating to climate and its implications for national security. Its deliberations would be subject to the transparency requirements of the Federal Advisory Committees Act.
In our view, an independent review of these reports is long overdue. Serious problems and shortcomings have been raised repeatedly in the past by highly-qualified scientists only to be ignored or dismissed by the federal agencies in charge of producing the reports. Among major issues that have been raised and that we hope the commission will scrutinize: the models used have assumed climate sensitivities to CO2 concentrations significantly higher than recent research warrants; the models used have predicted much more warming than has actually occurred; predictions of the negative impacts of global warming have been made based on implausible high-end emissions scenarios; the positive impacts of warming have been ignored or minimized; and surface temperature data sets have been manipulated to show more rapid warming than has actually occurred. An underlying issue that we hope the commission will also address is the fact that so many of the scientific claims made in these reports and by many climate scientists are not falsifiable, that is, they cannot be tested by the scientific method.
The conclusions and predictions made by these reports are the basis for proposed energy policies that could cost trillions of dollars in less than a decade and tens of trillions of dollars over several decades. Given the magnitude of the potential costs involved, we think that taking the insular processes of official, consensus science on trust, as has been the case for the past three decades, is negligent and imprudent. In contrast, major engineering projects are regularly subjected to the most rigorous and exhaustive adversarial review. We suggest that climate science requires at least the same level of scrutiny as the engineering employed in building a bridge or a new airplane.
We note that defenders of the climate consensus have already mounted a public campaign against the proposed commission. We find this opposition curious. If the defenders are confident that the science contained in official reports is robust, then they should welcome a review that would finally put to rest the doubts that have been raised. On the other hand, their opposition could be taken as evidence that the scientific basis of the climate consensus is in fact highly suspect and cannot withstand critical review.
We further note that opponents of the proposed commission have already stooped to making personal attacks on Dr. Happer. Many signers of this letter know Dr. Happer personally and all are familiar with his scientific career. We know him to be a man of high capabilities, high achievements, and the highest integrity.
It has been reported that some officials within your administration have proposed an internal working group as an alternative to an independent commission subject to FACA. Insofar as an internal working group would consist of federal career scientists reviewing their own work, we think this alternative would be worse than doing nothing.
Although an independent commission of distinguished scientists would have high credibility, we do not mean to imply that its report should be the end of the matter. We therefore suggest that the National Academies of Science and Engineering would be appropriate bodies to conduct an initial review of the commission’s report.
Mr. President, you have made a number of comments in recent years expressing doubts about the global warming consensus. Many of the signers of this letter have been similarly skeptical. Without prejudging the results, we think that a review of climate science produced by an independent, high-level commission would be a fair test for your views (and ours): either it would provide a sound basis for revising your views or it would confirm your views and confound your critics.
For these reasons, we urge you to create by Executive Order a President’s Commission on Climate Security. Thank you for considering our views.
Sincerely,
Myron Ebell, Director, Center for Energy and En-vironment
and Marlo Lewis, Senior Fellow
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Tim Huelskamp, Ph. D., President and CEO
and Joseph L. Bast, Founder and Senior Fellow
The Heartland Institute
Adam Brandon, President
FreedomWorks
Tim Chapman, Executive Director
Heritage Action for America
Thomas Pyle
President
American Energy Alliance
Thomas Schatz, President
Citizens Against Government Waste
Craig Rucker, President
and Marc Morano, Publisher, CFACT’s Climate Depot
Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT)
Steve Milloy, Publisher
Junk Science
James L. Martin, Founder and Chairman
and Saulius “Saul” Anuzis, President
60 Plus Association
Dr. Thomas P. Sheahen, Chairman
and Kenneth Haapala, President
Science and Environmental Policy Project
Robert L. Bradley, Jr., CEO
Institute for Energy Research
Craig D. Idso, Ph. D., Chairman
Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change
Tom Harris, Executive Director
International Climate Science Coalition
Eunie Smith, President
Eagle Forum
Rick Manning, President
Americans for Limited Government
Craig Richardson, President
Energy and Environment Legal Institute
E. Calvin Beisner, Ph. D., Founder and National Spokesman
Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Crea-tion
Phil Kerpen, President
American Commitment
Mario H. Lopez, President
Hispanic Leadership Fund
Al Regnery, Chairman
Conservative Action Project
Bill Walton, Chairman
CNP Action, Inc.
Jennifer Fielder, CEO
American Lands Council
Tom DeWeese, President
American Policy Center
Andrew Langer, President
Institute for Liberty
David T. Stevenson, Policy Director
and Clinton S. Laird, Advisory Council
Caesar Rodney Institute
Rob Roper, President
Ethan Allen Institute
Kory Swanson, President and CEO
John Locke Foundation
Paul Gessing, President
Rio Grande Foundation
Jason Hayes, Director of Environmental Policy
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Kathleen Hartnett White, Senior Fellow and Di-rector, Armstrong Center for Energy and the En-vironment
Life: Powered, a Project of the Texas Public Poli-cy Foundation
Daniel Turner, Founder and Executive Director
Power the Future
John Droz, Jr., Founder
Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions
Alex Epstein, Founder
Center for Industrial Progress
Mark Mathis, President
Clear Energy Alliance
Mandy Gunasekara, Founder
Energy 45 Fund
Peter Ferrara, Chief Consultant
and David Wallace, President and Founder
FAIR Energy Foundation
Mark Anderson, Executive Director
and Karla Davenport, Producer
I Spy Radio
Affiliations of the individuals listed alphabetically below are given for identification purposes only. Academic affiliations have been placed in parentheses to make this doubly clear.
Peter F. Alexander, L. A., Landscape Architect Planner
J. Scott Armstrong, Ph. D., (Professor, University of Pennsylvania)
Charles R. Anderson, Ph. D., President and Principal Scientist, Anderson Materials Evaluation
Dennis T. Avery, Co-author (with S. Fred Singer) of Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years
Timothy Ball, Ph. D., Author of Human Caused Global Warming
Joe Bastardi, Chief Meteorologist, Weatherbell.com, Author of The Climate Chronicles
Charles G. Battig, M. S., M. D., Policy Adviser, The Heartland Institute
Denis Beller, Ph. D., Lt. Col., USAF (ret.), (Research Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
Edwin X. Berry, Ph. D. (Physics), Climate Physics, LLC, Montana
Joseph Bevelacqua, Ph. D., CHP, RRPT, President, Bevelacqua Resources
Mark J. Block, CEO, Mother Nature’s Trading Company
Karl Bohnak, Chief Meteorologist, WLUC, Marquette, Mich.
Vice Admiral Edward S. Briggs, U. S. Navy (ret.)
William Butos, Ph. D., (Ferris Professor, Emeritus, Trinity College)
Mark L. Campbell, (Professor, United States Naval Academy)
Alan Carlin, Ph. D., Senior Analyst (ret.), Environmental Protection Agency, CarlinEconomics.com
Mark J. Carr, Channel Design Group
Jeffrey A. Casey, Ph. D., President, Rockfield Research, Inc.
Dr. Ian Clark, P. Geo., (Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Ottawa)
Dr. Imelda Connolly, Connolly Scientific Research Group
Dr. Michael Connolly, Connolly Scientific Research Group
Dr. Ronan Connolly, Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences (CERES)
Donn Dears, B. S., (Engineering), Senior Executive, General Electric Company (ret.), Author of Clexit for a Brighter Future
Paul deWitt, M. A., U. S. Navy (ret.)
David Deming, Ph. D. (Geophysics), (Professor of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahoma)
James D. Derbonné, Aerospace Engineer for Mercury, Apollo, Space Shuttle, and Space Station Programs, NASA (ret.)
Harold H. Doiron, Ph. D. (Mechanical Engineering), Chairman, The Right Climate Stuff Research Team, Engineer, NASA (ret.)
Becky Norton Dunlop, Former Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Former Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources
George S. Dunlop, Former Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment, former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works
John Dale Dunn, M. D., J. D., Policy Adviser, The Heartland Institute
Robert W. Endlich, M. S. (Meteorology), Principal, Cruces Atmospheric Sciences Forum, Lt. Col., USAF (ret.)
Vincent J. Esposito, Sc. D., former Westinghouse Vice President, (Adjunct Professor, University of Pittsburgh)
Bruce M. Everett, Ph. D.
Peter Felker, Ph. D., Los Angeles, California
Neil L. Frank, Ph. D., former Director, National Hurricane Center
Patrick Frank, Ph. D., (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University)
Gordon J. Fulks, Ph. D. (Physics—University of Chicago)
Terry Gannon, Ph. D., Climateintro.com
Grace Germany, NASA (ret.)
Ivar Giaever, Ph. D., Nobel Prize Winner in Physics 1973
Leo Goldstein, M. Sc., President, Science for Humans and Freedom Institute
Laurence I. Gould, Ph. D., (Professor of Physics, University of Hartford)
Prof. Dr. Hermann Harde, (Helmut-Schmidt University, Hamburg, Germany)
Larry Hart, Hartco Strategies
Howard Hayden, Ph. D., (Professor Emeritus of Physics University of Connecticut)
Thomas Hayward, Admiral, U. S. Navy (ret.)
Dennis Hedke, Consulting Geophysicist, Hedke-Saenger Geoscience, Ltd.
Tom Hennigan, (Associate Professor of Organism Biology and Ecology, Truett McConnell University)
James H. Hollingsworth, M. A.
Mark L. Hopkins, BSEE, J. D, MLB
William B. Howard, B. S.
Christopher C. Hull, Ph. D., Senior Fellow, Americans for Intelligence Reform
Jon P. Kahler, M. S., Retired Meteorologist
Richard A. Keen, Ph. D., (Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science, University of Colorado)
Hugh Kendrick, Ph. D., P. E., Former Director, Plans and Analysis, Nuclear Reactor Research, U. S. Department of Energy
Sheryl Kaufman, Corporate Chief Economist (ret.), Phillips Petroleum Company
Madhav Khandekar, Ph. D., Scientist (ret.), Environment Canada
William L. Kovacs, J. D., Former Senior Vice President for Environment, Technology, and Regulatory Affairs at a major trade association
Hans U. Kurr, Simultaneous Interpreter (ret.), United Nations
Gary Kyle, (Professor of Physics Emeritus, New Mexico State University)
David R. Legates, Ph. D., (Professor, University of Delaware)
Jay Lehr, Ph. D., Science Director, The Heartland Institute
Jonathan A. Lesser, Ph. D., President, Continental Economics, Inc.
Floy Lilley, J. D., Special Projects, Mises Institute
Anthony R. Lupo, (Professor, Columbia, Missouri)
Robert Lyman, Energy Economist, ENTRANS Policy Research Group
Matthew Malkan, Ph. D., Los Angeles, California
Martin J. Mangino, Ph. D., (Virginia Commonwealth University)
R. Timothy McCrum, J. D., Member of the DC and Supreme Court Bars, Washington, D. C.
Michael McKenna, Former Trump Transition head for Department of Energy, FERC, and NRC
Patrick J. Michaels, Ph. D., Past President, American Association of State Climatologists
Dennis M. Mitchell, CPA (ret.), Qualified Environmental Professional
Deroy Murdock, Contributing Editor, National Review Online
Miles J. Novy, M. D., (Emeritus Professor and Senior Scientist, Oregon Health Sciences University)
Dennis G. Ortega,
James M. Peacock, Aerospace Engineer (ret.) for Apollo, Sky Lab, and Space Shuttle Programs, NASA, U. S. Air Force Research and Development
Charles W. Pennington, M. S., MBA, Vice President, NAC International (ret.)
Charles A. Perry, Ph. D., Climatologist
John W. Peterson, Burke, Va.
Brian Pratt, Ph. D., (University of Saskatchewan)
A. G. Randol III, Ph. D., Virginia Scientists and Engineers for Energy and Environment
Allen Rogers, CEO, ALR Consulting
Bernard Rosenbaum, Senior Engineer (ret.), Propulsion and Power Division, NASA Johnson Space Center
James H. Rust, Policy Adviser, The Heartland Institute, (Professor of Nuclear Engineering (ret.), Georgia Tech)
Gary D. Sharp, Ph. D., Scientific Director, Center for Climate and Ocean Resources Study
Hal Shurtleff, Director, Camp Constitution
Willie Soon, Ph. D., Solar and Atmospheric Physicist
Roy W. Spencer, Ph. D. (Meteorology), (University of Alabama Huntsville)
Charles N. Steele, Ph. D., (Herman and Suzanne Dettwiler Chair in Economics, Hillsdale College)
J. Eldon Steelman, Ph. D. (Electrical Engineering)
Ted Stout, D. C.
Szymon Suckewer, Ph. D., D. Sc. (Habilitation), (Professor Emeritus, Princeton University)
Michael C. Sununu, S. B. (MIT)
Daniel Sutter, (Professor of Economics, Troy University)
Brendon Swedlow, Ph. D, J. D., (Associate Professor, Northern Illinois University)
Thomas Tanton, Energy and Environment Legal Institute
Mitchell Taylor, Ph. D., (Adjunct Professor, Lakehead University), Former Member of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialists Group
Nancy J. Thorner, Lake Bluff, Ill.
David H. Tofsted, Ph. D. (Electrical Engineering), former Senior Research Physicist, U. S. Army Research Laboratory, White Sands Missile Range
Cecil Joe Tomlinson, Senior Principal Engineer (ret.), Boeing Company
Brian Gregory Valentine, D. Eng., U. S. Department of Energy, (University of Maryland)
Donald R. van der Vaart, Ph. D. (Trinity College, Cambridge), P. E., J. D., Former Secretary, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
Phil Volker, President, ERF/WMG Companies, Inc.
Lance Wallace, Ph. D. (Astrophysics), EPA Office of Research and Development (ret.)
Anthony Watts, Meteorologist and Publisher, Watts Up With That?
Steven Weismantel, Connecticut Climate Realists
Chuck F. Wiese, Meteorologist, Weatherwise, Inc.
Adam Wildavsky, S. B. (MIT), Senior Software Engineer (ret.), Google
David Wojick, Ph. D.
George T. Wolff, Ph. D., Principal Scientist, Air Improvement Resources, Inc.
Thomas H. Wysmuller, Meteorologist, NASA (ret.), Founding Member of the Right Climate Stuff Team
Benjamin Zycher, Ph. D., Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute