Republicans accused of witch-hunt against scientists

Some of the United States’s leading scientists have accused Republican politicians of intimidating climate-change experts by placing them under unprecedented scrutiny.

A far-reaching inquiry into the careers of three of the US’s most senior climate specialists has been launched by Joe Barton, the chairperson of the House of Representatives committee on energy and commerce. He has demanded details of all their sources of funding, methods and everything they have ever published.
Barton, a Texan closely associated with the fossil-fuel lobby, has spent his 11 years as chairperson opposing every piece of legislation designed to combat climate change.

He is using the wide powers of his committee to force the scientists to produce great quantities of material after alleging flaws and lack of transparency in their research. He is working with Ed Whitfield, the chairperson of the sub-committee on oversight and investigations.

Mail & Guardian