Attorney general demands papers on climate data from UVa

Correction
An investigation by Penn State University cleared researcher Michael Mann of wrongdoing in February on three of four allegations regarding his research into climate change. The inquiry recommended a separate committee to investigate the fourth allegation. The information was incorrect in a story in Saturday's edition.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has demanded that the University of Virginia turn over documents related to a former UVa climatology professor at the center of the so-called “climategate” scandal.

Cuccinelli, a Republican from Fairfax County, is challenging in court the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as a contributor to climate change.

On April 23, Cuccinelli sent a “civil investigative demand” to UVa seeking documents related to the work of Michael Mann, a researcher who worked at UVa between 1999 and 2005 and is now at Penn State.

As first reported by the Hook, Cuccinelli is looking for information related to Mann’s receipt of $484,875 in state-funded grants for climate-change research during his time at UVa.

Mann did not immediately return a request for comment.

Mann is a foremost expert in climate-change science, best known for his widely cited — and controversial — “hockey stick” graphs that show temperatures rising sharply in recent years.

Some of Mann’s correspondence was among the hacked e-mails last November at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in England. Climate-change skeptics assert that some of the e-mails indicate that researchers colluded to manipulate data and destroy records.

An investigation by Penn State into the allegations cleared Mann of wrongdoing in February.

Cuccinelli’s office declined to comment on its new inquiry into Mann’s work while at UVa.

“The attorney general’s office can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of any pending case or investigation,” said Brian Gottstein, director of communications for the attorney general’s office.

UVa spokeswoman Carol Wood said the university will comply with Cuccinelli’s request, as dictated by law.

“The university has received the CID from the state’s attorney general regarding Michael Mann’s work. Because of the scope of the request for information it will take some time for us to review it and decide how best to proceed with gathering information. The university has a legal obligation to answer this request and it is our intention to respond to the extent required by law.”

Environmentalists were critical of Cuccinelli’s moves against climate-change science.

“This is fiscally irresponsible,” said Antigone Ambrose, conservation program coordinator for the Virginia Sierra Club. “We’re making cuts [in Virginia] left and right to everything. Sen. [Donald] McEachin has estimated that the attorney general’s lawsuit will cost Virginia taxpayers between $250,000 and $500,000 if it goes all the way to the Supreme Court. That’s money that we simply don’t have.”

Ambrose added that two independent investigative inquiries have cleared the British researchers at East Anglia and their research partners of any malfeasance.

“The have been exonerated,” she said.

Cuccinelli’s actions, she said, are purely political.

Cuccinelli has said that he is challenging the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions because he believes that such regulations would cause energy prices to rise and would lead to job losses in Virginia.

The EPA’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses came about after a 2007 Supreme Court ruling found that greenhouse gasses are pollutants.