According to Politico’s Morning Energy report published today, twenty climate scientists have sent a letter to President Obama urging him to jail climate skeptics using the RICO act. In a letter dated September 1 and sent to the president and U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the scientists argue that the “systemic efforts to prevent the public from understanding climate change resembles the investigation undertaken against tobacco.”
The letter, which was signed by Kevin Trenberth, a UN IPCC Lead Author, says it drew inspiration from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who said on the Senate floor that there “might be a conspiracy here, and a civil trial could provide the tools of discovery needed to find out.” That tool would be the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act, which gives the Attorney General unfettered access to “investigate corporations and other organizations” that may have “knowingly deceived the American people about the risks of climate change.”
In the letter, the scientists cite books written by environmental activists and radical organizations, including the box-office flop “Merchants of Doubt” based on the titular book. They equate climate scientists who question the global warming orthodoxy as being similar to Big Tobacco, which knowingly mislead the public on the dangers of smoking. A RICO investigation uncovered their role and led to one of the largest tobacco settlements in U.S. history.
The letter goes on to say that if “corporations in the fossil fuel industry and their supporters are guilty of the misdeeds that have been documented in books and journal articles, it is imperative that these misdeeds be stopped as soon as possible.” They believe that a conspiracy is occurring and that the American people, nay, the world have largely been hoodwinked by the energy industry.
The scientists believe that by stopping these fossil fuel companies now will allow America and the world to get on with the “critically important business of finding effective ways to restabilize [sic] the Earth’s climate, before even more lasting damage is done.” This letter may be a last-ditch effort before what many pundits believe to be an impending Republican presidency, as the American people have grown leery of Obama. The last two election cycles showed Republicans gaining majorities in the House and in the Senate, respectively.
According to journalist Marc Morano, “one of the scientists who signed the letter was Alan Robock of Rutgers University. Robock has expressed very positive views of Cuba’s Fidel Castro.” Morano also writes that “top U.N. scientist Dr. Kevin Trenberth and the 19 other scientists have become so tired of debating global warming that they are now apparently seeking to jail those who disagree with them.”
The letter comes at a time when the global warming pause hit a new record length of 18 years 8 months and the Arctic summer ice cover is the 31st highest ever recorded. That’s because there is only a set of 35 accurate results showing Arctic ice cover (when satellite mapping began). As The Register also noted, it’s a “lot more fashionable to report this as the fourth lowest on record,” even though that number has “no real significance at all.”
