Requests documents from University of Virginia

A Virginia state lawmaker, state taxpayers and public interest law firm are pressuring the University of Virginia to release documents and emails related to global warming research done with taxpayer money by Dr. Michael Mann.

Mr. Mann is currently a professor and director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University. Last year, he became embroiled in the so-called “Climate-gate” controversy when emails leaked from the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit implicated Mr. Mann and other climate researchers with participating in agenda-driven research to manipulate and exaggerate the impact of man-made global warming.

Dr. Michael Mann

Virginia Delegate Robert Marshall (R-Prince William) and the American Tradition Institute’s (ATI) Environmental Law Center are now seeking records about Mr. Mann’s work at the University of Virginia, where he was a faculty member before moving to Penn State in 1996.

Under the state’s Freedom of Information Act laws, the group is requesting emails and other documents which Mr. Mann used to obtain taxpayer-funded grants while at the University of Virginia.

Previous requests for information from the university have been denied and the school has spent more than $500,000 fighting a separate investigation into Mr. Mann’s research lead by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, said a spokesperson for ATI. The issue is now before the state Supreme Court.

It was during his time at the University of Virginia when Mr. Mann developed the so-called “Hockey Stick graph” which was hailed as conclusive proof of mankind’s impact on global temperatures. The chart was famously used by Al Gore in his documentary An Inconvenient Truth and by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The emails leaked from the East Anglia University facility raised questions about the legitimacy of the research used by Mr. Mann in constructing his chart. Specifically, one email referred to a “trick” used by Dr. Mann to “hide the decline” in global temperatures.

The emails also suggested an effort among some climate scientists to keep research skeptical of global warming from appearing in peer-reviewed journals.

An internal review conducted by four fellow Penn State faculty members last spring cleared Mr. Mann of all charges of academic misconduct. Despite Penn State’s status as a state-funded university, members of the General Assembly declined calls for a more thorough investigation.

The final report issued by the review board criticized Mr. Mann for “carelessly” sharing unpublished manuscripts, but said those actions alone were not grounds for charges of dishonesty or misconduct.

“I am pleased that the last phase of Penn State’s investigation has now been concluded, and that it has cleared me of any wrongdoing. These latest findings should finally put to rest the baseless allegations against me and my research,” said Mr. Mann in July when the final report was released.

In 2006, Dr. Mann’s academic practices were investigated and exonerated by the National Science Foundation.

In June 2009, Dr. Mann received a $541,184 grant from the National Science Foundation as part of the federal stimulus bill.