Texas Congressman Lamar Smith has had an eventful run as chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology so far. And his most colorful highlights revolve around climate science. Smith, who rejects the central conclusions of climate scientists, has been demanding the e-mails of NOAA scientists, whom he has accused of manipulating data for a 2015 study published in the journal Science, even though that work is publicly available, independently replicated, and scientifically uncontroversial.
Recently, he has turned his focus to several state attorneys general who are pursuing investigations of Exxon Mobil. Some recent media reports revealed that Exxon’s own climate research in the 1970s and '80s concluded that climate change was human-caused. But the company later reversed course and campaigned to block any climate policies. Several investigations are now looking at whether, in doing so, Exxon mislead its shareholders. The investigations are modeled after the cases brought against tobacco companies in the 1990s.
In May, Smith subpoenaed 17 attorneys general and 8 environmental groups for any communications related to these investigations, describing them as “a coordinated attempt to attack the First Amendment rights of American citizens”.
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