An apology is in order

Ever since criminals from Russia illegally hacked into the computers at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, the right-wing attack on the science of climate change has grown more hysterical and more oblivious to facts and scientific data. The Commonwealth Foundation has gleefully joined in the attack, turning some of its fury on Penn State University where Dr. Michael Mann, one of the climate researchers at the heart of the hysteria, is the director of the Earth System Science Center.

The Commonwealth Foundation has now declared the Penn State investigation that cleared Dr. Mann of charges of research misconduct a whitewash. The foundation has produced no evidence to document that conclusion, but levels the charge because it does not like the outcome. That charge slanders both Penn State University and the distinguished panel of experts pulled together to review the matter. The Commonwealth Foundation owes Penn State, the panel of experts, and the people of Pennsylvania an apology.

The refusal by the Commonwealth Foundation and its right-wing allies to accept documented fact and to engage in the politics of personal and institutional destruction is the real scandal of the stolen emails.

In the wake of the hacking of the computers at East Anglia and the selective release of email exchanges that purported to show that Dr. Mann had manipulated and destroyed data, Penn State announced that it would conduct an investigation into accusations of alleged research misconduct. The Commonwealth Foundation promptly issued a "Policy Brief" that concluded that any such investigation "might amount to little more than a whitewash."

The inquiry committee assembled by Penn State is impressive - Dr. Henry Foley, Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School; Dr. Alan Scaroni, Associate Dean for Graduate Education and Research in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; and Ms. Candice Yekel, director of the Office of Research Protections. The team was advised by Dr. William Brume, head of Penn State's world renowned meteorology department. Dr. Foley holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering and among other distinguished posts leads the University's Homeland Security Coordination Council, and the Office of Military and Security Programs. Dr. Scaroni holds a PhD in Fuel Science and was the director of the Consortium for Coal Water Slurry Fuel Technology, and the National Center of Excellence for Coal Utilization. Hardly a bunch of wild-eyed tree huggers.

The committee went through about 1075 of the stolen emails and requested that Dr. Mann hand over all emails relating to his work on the fourth International Panel on Climate Change Report. Dr. Mann complied with the request. The committee also conducted two interviews with Mann and reviewed Mann's responses with other scientists including Dr. Donald Kennedy of Stanford University and former editor of Science Magazine.

The committee concluded that there was no substance to the allegations that Dr. Mann attempted to falsify data, delete data or misuse confidential information. The committee did not reach a definitive conclusion about whether or not Mann's research deviated from accepted academic practices and ordered a further investigation of that question to be conducted.

The Commonwealth Foundation, having prejudged the outcome of the investigation, issued a release that concluded "Penn State's internal review of a few emails by vested interests provides zero confidence that Mr. Mann did not engage in scientific misconduct..." and again calls on the General Assembly to commission yet another investigation with taxpayer money.

The Commonwealth Foundation just does not accept the facts, so it does not accept the results of the Penn State investigation, or an AP review by five reporters that came to the same conclusion. Nor does it accept a 2006 review of Dr. Mann's work by the National Academy of Sciences which upheld his research and its conclusions.

The Commonwealth Foundation is entitled to ignore accepted science and form its own opinion. What it is not entitled to do is smear a respected researcher with disproven charges of scientific misconduct, or attack the integrity of Penn State and the scientists charged with overseeing the integrity of its faculty's work by labeling an outcome the Commonwealth Foundation does not like as a "whitewash."

The Commonwealth Foundation owes us an apology.

PennFuture Facts is a biweekly publication designed to be a brief, informative and interesting look at a topical environmental and/or economic issue in Pennsylvania.