Summary of #62 David Legates: A climate skeptic in government

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00:00:00 - 01:00:00

David Legates, a climate skeptic who worked in government and academia, discusses his experiences with the climate change community. He believes that both Republicans and Democrats are on board with climate alarmism due to financial interests and partisan politics. He argues that many organizations, including the IPCC, are biased towards climate alarmists and do not reflect the true science. Legates also shares his personal experiences with FOIA requests and attacks on his academic freedom. Despite the challenges he has faced, he remains hopeful that increasing numbers of scientists will speak out against the mainstream climate change narrative, and the general public's belief in climate change is waning.

00:00:00 In this section, David Legates discusses his time in the government during the Trump Administration, where he was brought into the National Climate Assessment to shepherd the program, but ended up being transferred to the U.S Global Change Research Program. Although there were other climate skeptics brought in, he believes that the Trump Administration waited too long to make changes to political personnel, resulting in many "deep staters" still being part of the crowd. David also touches on the difficulty of rooting out climate alarmism in the federal government, stating that it is embedded in what he refers to as the "accessible" rather than the "swamp."
00:05:00 In this section, David Legates, a climate skeptic in government, discusses the issue of partisanship in climate change and the lack of trust in people working in government positions. Legates suggests that both Republicans and Democrats are on board with climate alarmism, and even though the Republicans may not want to push back, their donors want them to be on board with alarmism. In terms of restoring sanity on the climate issue in federal government, Legates finds it nearly impossible due to biased opinions and financial interests in climate change. Legates also shares his experience with putting together flyers on climate change, which was initially met with opposition and complaints, but was later authorized by the Trump White House, although some papers failed to retract false statements made about Legates.
00:10:00 In this section, David Legates, a climate skeptic, explains how the US Global Change Research Program and ICF International Group are biased towards climate change alarmists and how the Steering group effectively only approves alarmist people being picked. He also states that the National Climate Assessment is written every five years, and while it was required to provide commentary, the group is under no obligation to acknowledge or even consider comments made to the document. Legates recommends rooting these people out and cleaning up the system before any changes can be made in government regarding this issue.
00:15:00 In this section, Dr. David Legates discusses the controversy surrounding the insertion of the phrase "preponderance of the evidence suggests a discernible human influence on the climate" into the IPCC's second report, despite it not being approved by every country during the line-by-line approval process. He explains that the citation for this claim was based on flawed statistical analysis by Sandra, Weekly and their colleagues, which was challenged by Pat Michaels and Chip Knappenberger. Dr. Legates also reveals that Wigley had complained about their paper but their response was not published by the editor, who had received an email from Weekly suggesting that the paper never be published. This example illustrates how collusion between climate scientists and editors can affect the outcome of refereed articles.
00:20:00 In this section, climate skeptic David Legates discusses the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) process, which he argues has a built-in lag on purpose and does not necessarily reflect the existing science. He states that each country has the right to say yes or no and that the summary reflects the wishes of all the countries, not necessarily the science. He also raises concerns that the process takes too long to release the science document, and many people do not even read it, just the summary. Legates is skeptical about the IPCC's future and believes they will continue to make things up until somebody gets in with a different agenda and viewpoint. Finally, he argues that many scientists are not speaking out, either to protect their jobs or because it's a waste of time, but that the people speaking up are not in the minority.
00:25:00 In this section, David Legates discusses the challenges climate skeptics face when speaking out against the mainstream climate change narrative. He explains that many retired scientists who have spoken out against the climate change theory have been ostracized and attacked by the media, causing them to shy away from sharing their dissenting opinions. However, Legates believes that strength in numbers may help mitigate attacks on climate skeptics, and references the historical example of the Soviet agriculture industry's shift towards environmental determinism, which lasted a generation before they reverted back to genetics-based assessment. Legates also notes that the general public's belief in climate change is waning and that they are becoming disillusioned with the idea of saving the planet at the cost of their everyday lives.
00:30:00 In this section, David Legates, a climate skeptic who was a professor at the University of Delaware, discusses the "climate gate" issue and how it impacted him personally. Legates received a FOIA request from Greenpeace asking for all of his emails and documents related to climate change, global warming, and Michael Mann. He was one of four universities targeted and seven people in total. Legates argues that the University of Delaware and Delaware State University are exempt from State foia, but turns over his documents to the dean and university legal council. Larry White, who was the legal representative of the American Association of University Professors, wanted to see everything Legates had produced, including things produced outside the university.
00:35:00 In this section, David Legates, a climate skeptic in government, shares his experience with his university's response to a Freedom of Information Act request made by Greenpeace. Legates received an email from Larry, a colleague at the university, claiming that Greenpeace had already received all sorts of documents from him, despite Legates not having produced anything yet. Legates suspected issues were happening and told Larry that his subordinate had lied in her request to Greenpeace. Later, Larry told Legates that he doesn't understand the law and that he and the dean will go through Legates' documents and decide what to release to Greenpeace. Legates hired an attorney, but the dean of the college removed him from his position and told him to step down from his role as the state climatologist.
00:40:00 n this section, David Legates recounts his experience at the University of Delaware, where he faced resistance from the Chair of the Department and Larry White, the University's legal counsel, for refusing to turn over documents requested by Greenpeace. While White initially demanded that Legates provide the materials or be terminated, he later revised his decision after a legal analysis indicated that Legates had no obligation to release them. Legates believes that the University, which identifies as a state-supported institution, was proactive in establishing a policy protecting faculty speech after the decision in Garcetti v. Sabalos, in which the Supreme Court ruled that public employees' free speech rights are subject to limitations. However, he argues that the policy is subject to individual interpretation and can be used to silence dissenting voices, as White had attempted to do with him.
00:45:00 In this section, David Legates talks about his experience trying to obtain materials in response to a FOIA request. He sent a letter asking for documentation but received no response from Larry White. It was revealed that Larry White had stepped away from the issue and wanted it to be ignored. This occurred after Delegate Bob Marshall did the same thing at the University of Virginia and demanded material from Michael Mann in response to the request from CEI asking for documents from Pat Michaels. The ACLU issued a statement that encouraged the university to resist providing the information demanded in order to protect academic freedom. Legates went to the University of Delaware union and Foundation for Individual Rights and Education but received no support.
00:50:00 In this section of the interview, David Legates talks about how he faced a second FOIA request from Greenpeace to turn over records related to work supported by state agencies. The request stated that Legates was obliged to produce records related to work by him that was supported through grants from state agencies. Under the request, Legates was required to turnover all email exchanges discussing his work under these grants, which turned out to be only two records. The request was also for his course materials and class postings relevant to this work, which he claimed was trivial and deliberately invoking trivialization in the materials provided to him.
00:55:00 In this section, David Legates talks about an incident where a third-year law student was instructed to copy down every document and webpage associated with his name and hand them over to Greenpeace. Legates argues that there was nothing provocative or shocking in any of the emails or documents, and therefore Greenpeace probably had other motives to obtain them. He also discusses a situation where the university claimed that certain faculty members were funded by state money and were, therefore, subject to public scrutiny. Legates questioned the policy and asked when he became a part of the state-funded group since there were no clear guidelines.

01:00:00 - 01:05:00

David Legates, a climate skeptic and former government official, discusses his experience with FOIA requests and how he believes the University of Delaware violated its faculty handbook when they retained his old materials. Legates also shares his interest in the topic of global cooling and how it was once a concern but was not profitable, and how the focus has now shifted to global warming due to the financial benefits. Legates promotes his podcast, created with the Cornwall Alliance, which discusses various issues related to climate and environmental stewardship.