Guess Who's Going To Review The National Climate Assessment? The Guy Who Led Project 2025, That's Who

[hatrack]

Every few years, the federal government publishes a comprehensive report that chronicles how climate change is transforming the United States and devastating the country with more extreme storms, wildfires and droughts. But the next installment of the National Climate Assessment — due out in 2026 or 2027 — could dial back the usual scientific rigor in favor of an approach that would both elevate the viewpoint of climate science denialists and jettison all contributions from the Biden administration.

Scientists and climate policy experts say the proposed changes — which are being pushed by aides to President-elect Donald Trump — run the risk of undermining a foundational reference for government officials. And they say it could make it harder to craft future U.S. policies to address global warming. The goal of the next administration “is to undermine any policies aimed at accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy,” said Michael Mann, a climate scientist and director of the Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania. The drive to reshape the National Climate Assessment is being led by one man: Russell Vought, a conservative warrior whom Trump wants to lead his Office of Management and Budget. Vought, who ran OMB during Trump’s first term, has long sought to bury or weaken the National Climate Assessment.

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According to the Project 2025 playbook, Vought wants to produce a version of the climate report that includes more “diverse viewpoints.” That phrase often has been used by opponents of climate regulation to describe researchers who are known to cast doubt on peer-reviewed science and often are affiliated with industry or conservative think tanks. Vought’s proposal would also increase his own power to shape the report and pick the researchers who are working on it. OMB and the Office of Science and Technology Policy would jointly “assess the independence of the contractors used to conduct much of this outsourced government research that serves as the basis for policymaking,” he wrote in the Project 2025 report.

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Vought does appear to value the perspective of at least one scientist: David Legates, Trump’s former deputy assistant Commerce secretary for observation and prediction. In his Project 2025 chapter, he cited Legates as a source. Legates is a geologist from the University of Delaware and an affiliate of the Heartland Institute who denies basic climate change science. During Trump’s first term, Legates was brought in as executive director of the U.S. Global Change Research Program in the final months of the administration. But he was later removed from his post after he attempted to publish cherry-picked and incomplete claims about global warming as official government documents. Legates refers to climate scientists as “alarmists” and says they are participating in a scheme “to change the economy to redistribute our wealth.” He has denied that increasing carbon dioxide has any effect on sea-level rise and has said that rising emissions would lead instead to “enhanced plant growth and hence more abundant and affordable food.” Legates did not respond to a request for comment.

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https://www.eenews.net/articles/trump-team-takes-aim-at-crown-jewel-of-us-climate-research/

[cachukis]

1. Of course.

[Think. Again.]

2. Yep, luckily, those who are investing in clean tech already know the truth.

[Firestorm49]

3. "to change the economy to redistribute our wealth." Could it get any more comical, ridiculous, absurd?

To hear a Republican distressed about wealth distribution is a joke, as is the fool about to run the department. But this issue will be one of an onslaught of pathetic policy decisions being readied by this goofball administration. Brace yourselves.