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Introduced Version House Resolution 32 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 32

(By Delegates Canterbury, Louisos, Blair, Border, Evans, J. Miller, Overington, Shott and Walters)




Calling for the termination of scientists who acted to conceal data, suppress dissenting views and stifle science regarding anthropocentric global warming.

Whereas, Some scientists such as Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University, Professor Phil Jones of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, and others have proposed that human-caused carbon emissions are causing planetary global warming and a variety of environmental disasters around the world; and
Whereas, Policy-makers from all levels of government around the world have taken these dire warnings seriously enough to propose sweeping public policy changes that will prove to be both expensive and generally disruptive of life in both developed and developing nations; and
Whereas, Every man, woman and child on the planet will bear the cost of these sweeping changes should they be implemented; and
Whereas, It is in the general public interest that any public policy decision of such sweeping significance should be based only on sound science; and
Whereas, Sound science is only possible in an intellectual environment in which scholars are permitted to propose and argue about ideas including ideas that challenge the "orthodox" or "accepted" view of the moment, subject only to the constraint that their ideas should be empirically testable; and
Whereas, E-mails released after a hacking incident directed at servers at the University of East Anglia in November of 2009 revealed that many proponents of the theory that human-caused carbon emissions are a significant factor in global warming have acted in a manner that is entirely inconsistent with the development of an open and fair public debate about the theory; and
Whereas, Their actions have included specific steps to suppress both actual climate data and scientific articles critical of their theory; and
Whereas, These allegations of actions unbefitting of honest scholars are substantiated by their own electronic correspondence; and
Whereas, Substantiating comments within their correspondence include statements such as this one from Dr. Michael Mann regarding a paper published in the scientific journal "Climate Research" that criticized Dr. Mann's theories about global warming: "I think we have to stop considering Climate Research as a legitimate peer-reviewed journal. Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal"; and
Whereas, Such an action to excommunicate can be interpreted as an attempt to intimidate the editors of the named publication into accepting for publication only papers that agree with Dr. Mann's and Professor Jones' preferred hypothesis of manmade global warming; and
Whereas, Several members of the editorial board of that journal resigned in the wake of the controversy surrounding the publication of that paper; and
Whereas, Similar comments made by Professor Phil Jones included this one found in an e-mail dated July 8, 2008: "The other paper by MM is just garbage... I can't see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report. Kevin and I will keep them out somehow - even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!"; and
Whereas, Both of these statements and the associated actions suggest a pattern of subverting an open public debate about the theory that human-caused carbon emissions cause global warming; and
Whereas, Over a period of several years scientists and scholars who disputed Dr. Mann's and Professor Jones' theory that human-caused carbon emissions cause global warming were frustrated in their attempts to gain access to the primary data these two men and others allegedly used to construct their theory; and
Whereas, With regard to the suppression of actual empirical data regarding global warming, Phil Jones wrote to Michael Mann on February 2, 2005: "Don't leave stuff lying around on ftp FTP sites - you never know who is trawling them. The two MMs have been after the CRU station data for years. If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I'll delete the file rather than send to anyone. Does your similar act in the US force you to respond to enquiries within 20 days?-our does! The UK works on precedents, so the first request will test it. We also have a data protection act, which I will hide behind"; and
Whereas, In another message pertaining to Freedom of Information Act requests for the empirical data that was supposedly used by Dr. Mann and Professor Jones, Phil Jones wrote to Michael Mann, with the subject line "IPCC & FOI": "Can you delete any e- mails you may have had with Keith re AR4? Keith will do likewise. Can you also e-mail Gene and get him to do the same? I don't have his new e-mail address"; and
Whereas, Such actions to suppress actual empirical data generated at public expense are not merely professionally unethical and stifling to scientific debate but also blatantly illegal in both the United States and Great Britain; and
Whereas, The United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which oversees the Freedom of Information process in Great Britain, stated of acts such as this, that "Destroying requested information outside of an organizations normal policies is unlawful and may be a criminal offence if done to prevent disclosure"; and
Whereas, The British Deputy Information Commissioner, Graham Smith, issued a statement on January 27, 2010, that, "The e-mails which are now public reveal that Mr Holland's requests under the Freedom of Information Act were not dealt with as they should have been under the legislation. Section 77 of the Freedom of Information Act makes it an offence for public authorities to act so as to prevent intentionally the disclosure of requested information"; and
Whereas, It is now altogether clear from comments found within their own electronic correspondence that scientists who have long advocated the view that human activity is a prime cause of global climate change have in fact acted to hide their data from public scrutiny and from the scrutiny of fellow scholars who intend to dispute their views; and
Whereas, It is also clear from comments found within their electronic correspondence that these scientists made efforts not only to interfere with the sincere and honest efforts of researchers who challenged their views, but also to deny the publication of papers which were critical of their preferred hypothesis regarding anthropocentric global warming; and
Whereas, Actions such as these are not only incompatible with the spirit of scientific inquiry, but also through their influence on public policy potentially disruptive and economically burdensome for every man, woman, and child on earth; and
Whereas, Such irresponsible and unethical actions on the part of those who should exemplify the highest standards of honest scholarship should not go unpunished; therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Delegates:
That the Clerk of the House of Delegates compose and send letters and copies of this resolution to both Pennsylvania State University and The University of East Anglia requesting that both Dr. Mann and Professor Phil Jones be immediately relieved of their current positions and all other possible employment with their respective Universities; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates in the letters request both Universities to record that these men were dismissed not for their views but for the unethical and possibly unlawful actions they took to interfere with the honest efforts of other scholars who were critical of their views and to stifle science, in as much as such actions should be regarded as not only unbefitting of honest scholarship, but also seriously irresponsible with respect to their potential effects on public policy; and be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates forward a certified copy of this resolution to members of the West Virginia congressional delegation and both Pennsylvania State University and The University of East Anglia requesting that both Dr. Mann and Professor Phil Jones be immediately relieved of their current positions and all other possible employment with their respective Universities.
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