Battles aren't ending over DOE's contrarian climate science
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The Energy Department is disbanding its "working group" of five academics who break with mainstream climate science — but battles over its influence on federal policy aren't going anywhere.
State of play: Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the Climate Working Group that he's dissolving it in a Sept. 3 letter.
- The group's July report and comments on it brought "much-needed debate" and created space for diverse views, and he can end the CWG "without undermining that goal," Wright's letter states.
Why it matters: Trump administration lawyers are citing the dissolution in pushing back on green groups' litigation over the group, claiming that it's now moot.
- This is hardly just a nerd fight: The litigation targets EPA's use of the CWG's work to help justify the planned repeal of the endangerment finding.
- The finding is the legal underpinning for regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
The latest: The Environmental Defense Fund and Union of Concerned Scientists filed a motion Wednesday arguing the disbanding shouldn't moot their case against the group.
- They claim that the group's creation violated laws on federal advisory bodies.
- "[T]he rule of law is not a game of catch me if you can," the motion in a Massachusetts federal court states.
The big picture: "We will continue to engage in the debate in favor of a more science-based and less ideological conversation around climate science," a DOE spokesperson told Axios.
Catch up quick: The working group report takes contrarian positions on lots of topics.
- Think agricultural effects of higher CO2 levels; whether climate change is making hurricanes more intense; and expected warming from doubling CO2 concentrations, and much more.
- Its work has drawn pushback from dozens of climate scientists who call it riddled with errors and sins of omission.
What's next: More legal, policy and messaging battles over the working group's report and its role in EPA's plan.
- On that legal front, the next hearing in the case is Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
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