Message From the Editor

In the past week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a major source of climate science among federal agencies, has seen the appointment of David Legates and Ryan Maue, two climate science deniers with ties to conservative think tanks promoting climate denial. Read the full story and learn more about them.

While wildfires rage across Washington, a state court has been considering whether to allow a youth climate lawsuit against the Evergreen State’s government to go ahead. Dana Drugmand has the story.

Marc Morano, one of the world’s most aggressive climate science deniers, is at it again this week, with the debut of his film Climate Hustle 2: Rise of the Climate Monarchy. 

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: editor@desmogblog.com.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Don’t forget to check back for updates in our COVIDeniers report, which tracks how the climate science denial machine created by the fossil fuel industry has become a major source of COVID-19 disinformation.

Trump Appoints Pair of Climate Science Deniers to NOAA While Climate-Fueled Fires and Storms Rage

— By Dana Drugmand and Ben Jervey (8 min. read) —

The White House has made a pair of controversial appointments to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), positioning within the climate science agency two individuals who consistently misrepresent and disagree with the scientific consensus on various issues concerning climate change and who have notable ties with conservative think tanks that disseminate climate science denial. 

As the Washington Post first reported this week, President Trump is naming Ryan Maue to the role of chief scientist at NOAA, a position that will help enforce its scientific integrity process. Maue is a meteorologist who has downplayed the degree and impacts of global warming, particularly ties between extreme weather events and human-caused climate change, and he has a past connection with the Cato Institute.

Court Considers If Washington State, Smothered by 'Climate Fires' and Smoke, Is Violating Youths’ Rights to Life and Liberty

— By Dana Drugmand (5 min. read) —

As rampant wildfires worsened by climate change continued to batter the western U.S. this week, a Washington state appeals court examined the question of whether young people should be allowed to sue their state government over the climate crisis. The hearing, held Thursday, September 17, is part of a case brought by 13 Washington youth against the Evergreen State.

That case, Aji P. et al. v. State of Washington, argues that the government is violating the youths’ fundamental rights under the state constitution through policies that perpetuate fossil fuels and fail to reduce carbon emissions rapidly enough to avoid catastrophic climate consequences. At a time when the state is literally on fire and climate calamity impossible to ignore, the court appeared skeptical of the state’s argument that the political branches of government are doing enough to address the crisis and that climate change doesn’t undermine fundamental rights protected by the constitution.

Climate Hustle 2: Showcasing a Thinning Roster of Climate Science Deniers

— By Ben Jervey (11 min. read) —

When written histories remember 2020 as the year that America’s anti-science obsessions completed their evolution from dangerous to deadly, the premier of Climate Hustle 2: Rise of the Climate Monarchy will be deserving of at least a footnote. The film, produced by CFACT, the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, and starring Climate Depot’s Marc Morano, was originally set to be released on April 21, before the coronavirus pandemic shut down theaters and much of American life. 

In the five months since, climate-fueled wildfires have torched the Western U.S., the World Meteorological Organization ran out of hurricane names in the overheated Atlantic, the Arctic ice cap contracted to a nearly unprecedented minimum, and polar scientists announced that Greenland’s ice sheet has melted “past the point of no return.” 

These Agribusiness Groups With Ties to Climate Denial are Trying to Influence the US-UK Trade Deal

— By Rachel Sherrington  (17 min. read) —

The ongoing US-UK trade talks have been seen by some lobby groups as an opportunity to strip back environmental and food safety regulations to allow them to sell products – pesticides, hormone-fed meat, genetically modified crops (GMOs), and chemicals – that have been previously banned under EU law. The groups represent industries worth billions of dollars, and are supported by some of the world’s largest polluters. 

They are also backed by thinktanks and campaign groups with histories of obstructing climate action and ties to funders of climate science denial, and are affiliated with UK organisations closely connected to the UK's Department of International Trade, DeSmog can reveal.

Op-ed: US COVID-19 Bailouts Gave Bonuses to Fossil Fuel CEOs While Workers and Planet Suffered

— by Julieta Biegner, U.S. Communications Officer at Global Witness (6 min. read) —

Right now, we are beginning to experience a world that climate scientists have long warned we were risking. Raging wildfires and worsening storms are destroying homes, decimating communities, and polluting the air and water, all during a pandemic which disproportionately affects those living in polluted areas.

Even amid the pandemic, the U.S. fossil fuel industry has continued what it has always done: advance its own interests at the expense of people and the planet. The U.S. response to COVID-19 has enabled an insidious pattern of fossil fuel companies receiving government handouts, despite struggling long before the pandemic. Big Oil executives have walked away with millions of dollars in bonuses while the industry has lost over 100,000 jobs from February to August.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow

Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) is a nonprofit founded in 1985 by David Rothbard and Craig Rucker to pursue a free-market approach to environmental issues. CFACT has been described as the conservative answer to progressive environmental organizations like the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups. While ExxonMobil has donated over $582,000 to CFACT over the years, the oil company reports that it no longer funds the organization. CFACT produced Marc Morano’s new film, Climate Hustle 2.

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database or our new Koch Network Database.