From the Commonwealth Foundation press release
The release of embarrassingly candid emails from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia has intensified, if not vindicated, suspicions that scientific misconduct has played a significant role in fueling alarmism over supposed catastrophic manmade global warming.
Just days after news broke about what has been dubbed “Climategate,” Penn State University (PSU) announced that it would investigate the conduct of Michael Mann, a professor in PSU’s Department of Meteorology and a prominent figure in the Climategate emails.
While PSU is to be commended for recognizing that Climategate is a serious matter and that an investigation into Michael Mann’s conduct is warranted, the investigation constitutes a conflict of interest for the university. Mann’s climate work brings enough visibility, prestige, and revenue to PSU to legitimately call into question the university’s ability to do a thorough and unbiased investigation.
To avoid this glaring conflict of interest and ensure that the investigation of Mann is credible, the Pennsylvania General Assembly should commission an external and independent investigation into Mann’s potential scientific misconduct.
To download the full PDF version, please click here
Paul Chesser writes at the American Thinker:
The Commonwealth Foundation in Harrisburg, Pa. does not trust Pennsylvania State University to investigate Climategate hockey sticker Michael Mann, because of the millions of dollars that his research brings to the university. The foundation today released a 12-page policy brief which addresses Mann’s Climategate emails, the significance of his role, and why the university has a conflict of interest in investigating him. Commonwealth held a press conference today at the state capitol about their report:
The hockey stick controversy and Climategate emails reveal that Michael Mann may have committed significant and intentional scientific misconduct, including improper data manipulation, inappropriately shielding research methods and results from others, and engaging in a number of forms of retaliation against those who publicly challenge his research results.
Were scientific misconduct a criminal matter, the aforementioned facts might be said to constitute “probable cause” for a search warrant. Analogously, these facts provide probable cause for an investigation into Mann’s conduct at PSU.
Although PSU has announced that it will investigate Climategate, given Mann’s financial and reputational value to the university, and the likely embarrassment resulting from an adverse finding concerning his conduct, there is good reason to believe that a PSU-managed investigation might amount to little more than a whitewash.
Commonwealth Foundation goes on to recommend that the state General Assembly commission an external, independent investigation. Pennsylvania State Senate Education Committee Chairman Jeffrey Piccola has already promised Penn State that if its investigation is a whitewash, he will do one that isn’t.
h/t to reader “boballab”
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Reading those emails where they are asking for revisions to global warming statements in order to appear more certain or more alarming reminds me of how Blair was accused of having the reports on Iraq’s WMD programme ‘sexed up’.
I’ll be interested to see if the left ever uses that terminology to discredit any of those who played politics when they were supposed to be doing scientific research.
Cheers
Michael
Slightly OT but, In Australia, the consequences of unnecessarily scaring the wits out of people is coming home to roost. A woman and her three children were killed in a South Australian road crash yesterday after returning home after packing up and leaving because of a “catastrophic” fire danger rating. Ironically, heavy rain is partly blamed for the accident which had made the roads slippery.
Authorities are now reviewing their decision to introduce the “Catastrophic” category after ex-fire chief Phil Koperberg said that it was over the top and inappropriate. “Catastrophic” conditions were forecast for half of South East Australia but after the cool change went through there were no recorded major incidents of loss of property or deaths except the road accident listed above.
Mann is like manna to PSU. Why would they want to disturb such a capable rainmaker in the meteorology dept?
Ahhh, but whether anything happened or not, they still have the news item ” in January 2010 Australia issued Catestrophic Fire warnings” to add to climate catastrophy trophy case.
Yes, an outside investigation is warranted.
The Commonwealth Foundation is to be commended for spearheading the effort.
The logic & reasoning for requesting the investigation is sound.
Let’s hope the Pennsilvania Legislature takes action.
Of course Penn State cannot be trusted to conduct an objective investigation. First, they have too much to lose in prestige and credibility -not to mention additional grant funding – should they admit to wrong doing. Also, as liberal academics they will most likely be biased towards the results of Mann’s research and thus will tend to overlook any flaws in the scientific processes that he applied.
Any internal investigations will simply continue the polarization between the AGW believers and skeptics.
In the correlation does not equal causation Pakistan blames the northern hemisphere cooling on the US. Aparently we pierced a hole in the atmosphere.
http://www.daily.pk/norway-time-hole-%E2%80%9Cleak%E2%80%9D-plunges-northern-hemisphere-into-chaos-14311/?hnbgfv
Such an independent commision to be formed with holy inquisition’s friars of the green religion church, will condemn him to repeat aloud a thousand times
“I will never let infidels know about the sacred private communications held among our brother initiates”
Michael Mann is not Joe Paterno. Penn State can afford to lose Mann.
King of Cool (12:55:25) :
What was the next level? Armageddon?
Good news, let’s hope they choose statisticians rather than IPCC thugs.
the Commonwealth Foun dation – respectable, influential, serious? Or oil industry shills? Can an American comment for me?
Hopefully there’s enough pressure on PSU that they will see the long term value of ditching Mann if it is determined he messed around too much. I any event, if they do ditch him you can be guaranteed it will be framed as the result of a massive right wing conspiracy to punish angelic climate ‘scientists’ who are just trying to save the world from evil carbon polluters.
Pennsylvania legislature getting involved in the investigation would generate headlines. I’m from Pennsylvania, and it is a conservative state. The state of Pennsylvania could be ground zero to get the criminal indictments going. If I still lived in PA I would be seeking indictments through Public Grand Juries, sidestepping the usurped controlled criminal process.
Citizens Grand Jury – Speech by Gerry Donaldson
If the link below is correct, Mann is guilty, in the minimum, of extremely unethical behavior and a demonstrated lack of integrity. This should remove any doubt that “inverted data sets” were merely mistakes as opposed to intentional actions.
http://briefingroom.typepad.com/the_briefing_room/2010/01/top-climate-scientist-accused-of-more-false-reporting.html?cid=6a00d8341c51bc53ef012876a3a04e970c
They can either do an honest and transparent investigation and save the reputation of the university or try and protect the reputation of Mann and destroy the reputation of the university. Either way Manns actions are in the public domain – all they can do now is clean up the mess instead of pretending it didnt happen.
The feed back in other programs from the impact of a Con-Mann is logical.
Send Mann to check out tree rings in Siberia. Fieldtrips would help him clear his mind.
Yes, the new catastrophic warnings in Australia are a disgrace. How often do these warnings have to occur before they become meaningless? By all means have such an alert but only when it’s real, not hypothetical as is the case for the AGW alarmist crap.
Hmm, the “Commonwealth Foundation.” Let me guess: yet another right-wing thank tank?
I’ll repeat it again: no-one who matters takes any notice of right-wing think tanks.
Why isn’t taking government grants for research and then falsifying data not a criminal act? Why isn’t using email, which requires phone lines, to propagate your fraud, and the mail, to send in the grant requests, not wire and postal fraud? I think a lot of people are pussy footing around with their terminology and being a little too PC. Accountants go to jail all the time for “cooking” the books.
An excellent chronological explanation of the emails is being performed by Dr John Costella on this website:
http://www.assassinationscience.com/climategate/
Lots of references to M. Mann there. His copyright says basically: “Please distribute”
“King of Cool (12:55:25) :
What was the next level? Armageddon?” – Ray.
Not sure Ray but I think:
Code Scarlet and Cataclysmic
Code Crimson and Apocalyptic
might have been options.
There’s already the Albany university investigation of Wei-Chyung Wang, co-author with Jones, that looks like a whitewash. W-C W was suspected of fraud (inventions of Chinese records, used to dismiss UHI concerns IIRC) by Doug Keenan who demanded an inquiry… and was then left out of said inquiry. Altogether a sordid-looking story and not a ghost that UPenn would want to haunt them I think.
Michael (13:27:55) :
(…) I’m from Pennsylvania, and it is a conservative state. (…)
I’ve always been here, and before we can claim that in national elections we first have to cancel out Philly and Harrisburg/York. Which currently looks to be a lot easier come November. Don’t get me started on party-switching Senator Arlen Specter, whose “greenhouse gas emissions” position would qualify him as one of Al Gore’s “useful idiots.”
“Calvin Ball (12:58:11) :
Mann is like manna to PSU. Why would they want to disturb such a capable rainmaker in the meteorology dept?”
Wait.
He CAN control the weather?