Government
Scientific Community Refutes DOE's Climate Change Report
Wildfire destruction along the coastline the Pacific Coast Highway, California, shows the remains of structures and debris left behind in the aftermath of the recent fires. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is leading Phase 2 debris efforts to clear hazardous materials and support community recovery.
A group of more than 80 climate experts has formally rebutted the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s report on climate change released July 29, stating that the five scientists who comprised the Climate Working Group cherry-picked studies and facts to draw conclusions that run counter to decades of consensus reached by global experts.
The report is significant because its conclusions—that climate change is real, but its impacts on global economies and public health have been overstated—are cited as part of the rationale to revoke the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s endangerment finding, currently the underpinning of most current federal regulations governing air quality and greenhouse gas emissions restrictions at power plants and from vehicles, and which dictate the types of infrastructure projects that are permitted, funded and built.
EPA proposed repealing the endangerment policy the same day it released the DOE study.
The scientists submitted their 400+ page rebuttal on Aug. 30 as part of the report's public comment process, which ended Sept. 2. The group states that the report cites “outdated or discredited” studies and ignores or misrepresents the “overwhelming weight of scientific evidence.”
The climate scientists noted that normally, hundreds of authors—all or whom are experts in their respective fields of research—collaborate through a public process to produce a report over the span of several years. They said five-member DOE Climate Working Group took two months, and as a result, there are errors. The report, "due to its very small writing team, covers areas in which the authors are not experts and has led to many errors ... caused by a lack of familiarity with the science,” the group members wrote.
In a statement, Robert Kopp, a distinguished climate science professor in the Rutgers University Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences, and lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment and the ongoing Seventh Assessment reports, described the DOE report as “not scientifically credible.”
Abigail Swann, a professor of atmospheric and climate science at the University of Washington, said in a statement, “This report is not an accurate reflection of climate science knowledge, it is an agenda draped in a veneer of plausible-looking scientific statements.”
Looking for quick answers on construction and engineering topics?
Try Ask ENR, our new smart AI search tool.
Ask ENR →
The Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists on Aug. 16 filed a legal challenge in the federal district court of Massachusetts to both the DOE report and EPA’s proposal to roll back the endangerment finding. Energy Secretary Chris Wright "unlawfully formed, in secret, a group of climate skeptics to write a report filled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations about climate change—and EPA Administrator [Lee] Zeldin is trying to use it to undermine pollution limits," said the Fund's Senior Attorney Erin Murphy,
According to news reports, Wright has called for a review of past Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change climate assessment reports.
EPA extended the public comment period on repeal of the endangerment finding to Sept. 22.
