The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, which oversees federally-funded scientific research, issued a subpoena on October 13, 3015 seeking all documents and communications related to a NOAA study. The study refutes the notion that there has been a slowdown, or “hiatus,” in the rate of global warming in recent years. It was published in Science, a peer-reviewed, academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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The American Meteorological Society (AMS), a member organization of the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation, expressed concern over this recent subpoena through a letter addressed to Chairman Lamar Smith. AMS has a long history of supporting free and open access to the data and methodologies used to conduct scientific research. However, singling out specific research studies and implicitly questioning the integrity of the researchers conducting those studies can be viewed as a form of intimidation that could deter scientists from freely carrying out research on important national challenges. Instead, AMS encourages the Committee to help promote scientific advancements and to welcome the self-correcting nature of the peer-review process within the international scientific community.

Read the letter in full at https://www2.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/about-ams/ams-formal-letters-of-support/letter-to-house-committee-on-science-space-and-technology-on-noaa-science/.

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