Top U.S. Scientists Tell Congress Stolen E-Mails Have No Bearing on Climate Science

Today, 25 leading U.S.
scientists sent an open
letter (pdf) to Congress to assure lawmakers that the content of the stolen
emails from England's University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit has no
bearing on scientists' overall understanding that human activity is causing
global warming.

"The content of the stolen emails has no impact whatsoever
on our overall understanding that human activity is driving dangerous levels of
global warming," the letter states. "Even without including analyses from the UK
research center from which the emails were stolen, the body of evidence that
underlies our understanding of human-caused global warming remains robust."

The letter's signatories include eight members of the
National Academy of Sciences, including University of California, Berkeley
Professor Inez Fung; University of Washington Professor Edward Miles; and
Scripps Institute of Oceanography Professor and Nobel Laureate Mario J. Molina.

The letter states that "opponents of taking action on
climate change have misrepresented both the contents and the significance of
stolen emails to obscure public understanding of climate science and the
scientific process."

The letter also underscores the importance of scientific
integrity to climate research. "The scientific process," the letter states,
"depends on open access to methodology, data, and a rigorous peer-review
process."

Additionally, the letter cites an October 21, 2009
letter to Congress from 18 leading U.S. scientific organizations,
including the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American
Geophysical
Union and the American Meteorology Society, that stressed that
conclusions that
human activities are the primary cause of global warming are based on
"multiple
independent lines of evidence."