Congressman claims NOAA whistleblowers told him climate study was rushed

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Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) is back with more accusations against National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) climate scientists. The new claims came in the form of another letter sent to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker on Wednesday.

The letter alleges for the first time, that “information provided to the [House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology] by whistleblowers appears to show that the Karl study was rushed to publication despite the concerns and objections of a number of NOAA scientists." The letter states that “Dr. Karl rushed to publish the study before all appropriate reviews of the underlying science and new methodologies used in the foundational climate datasets were conducted.”

Why would the study be rushed? Rep. Smith writes that “the timing of its release raises concerns that it was expedited to fit the Administration’s aggressive climate agenda.” The June study in the journal Science came out two months before the new EPA “Clean Power Plan” regulations were finalized, and five months before the upcoming international climate negotiations in Paris.

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