Prince William hosts important global warming case

[Derechos]

While Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was grabbing the headlines for his attempts to investigate a global warming researcher at the University of Virginia, a conservative group has quietly made far more inroads toward obtaining the researcher’s e-mails and correspondence. And the case now unfolding in Prince William Circuit Court in Manassas could have a lasting impact on how Virginia courts handle Freedom of Information Act requests to colleges, what protections are afforded to academic freedom, and whether those who question the human role in global warming are truly waging a battle for intellectual honesty.

The case again centers around the activities of former U-Va. professor and climate scientist Michael E. Mann, one of many researchers who believe human activity has contributed to global warming. Last year, Cuccinelli sought Mann’s work papers, to investigate whether Mann had fraudulently obtained grants to study the subject. But while Cuccinelli’s efforts bogged down in the Charlottesville courts, Prince William Del. Robert Marshall and two members of the American Tradition Institute filed a FOIA request for the same documents. And when U-Va. didn’t comply promptly, Marshall and the ATI filed a lawsuit in May in Prince William County.

There are apparently about 12,000 e-mails being sought by the ATI, and U-Va. is resisting turning over most of them. On Tuesday in court, both sides exchanged harsh rhetoric, Mann’s request to become a party to the case was granted, and a judge said he would order a third party to review which e-mails should be released and which ones were exempt from Virginia’s FOIA laws.


The American Tradition Institute describes itself as a think tank out to ”restore science, accountability and liberty to the environmental policy debate,” and act as a “counterbalance to environmental extremism.” Its top lawyer is David W. Schnare, a former attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency who began working for ATI, and suing U-Va., even while he was with the EPA. He retired Sept. 30.

See rest of article at link - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-state-of-nova/post/prince-william-hosts-important-global-warming-case/2011/11/01/gIQAn6TcfM_blog.html

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Adding some links:

Judge: Mann can intervene

David W. Schnare