On June 19, the Woods Hole Research Center released an open letter from scientists to the President and members of Congress calling for “strong leadership” to avert “a rapidly developing global climatic catastrophe.” The letter called for passage of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill then pending in the House, now passed and moving to the Senate.

But on July 1 another group of scientists released a letter in direct response, questioning the independence of the Woods Hole group because of ties with presidential science advisor John Holdren, “the same science advisor who has given us predictions of ‘almost certain’ thermonuclear war or eco-catastrophe by the year 2000, and many other forecasts of doom that somehow never seem to arrive on time.”

Signed by physics professors Robert Austin and William Happer of Princeton, Laurence Gould of Harvard, and Harold Levins of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and meteorology professor Richard Lindzen of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and environmental sciences professor and atmospheric physicist Fred Singer, the letter adds:

• Earth has been cooling for ten years;
• the present cooling was not predicted by the alarmists’ computer models;
• legislation supported by the Woods Hole Letter “would cripple the US economy, putting us at a disadvantage compared to our competitors.”

“For such drastic action,” it continued, “it is only prudent to demand genuine proof that it is needed, not guesswork, and not false claims” that the evidence is clear and the debate is over.

The new letter concluded by warning, “Finally, climate alarmism pays well.  Many alarmists are profiting from their activism. There are billions of dollars floating around for the taking, and being taken.”