WASHINGTON (December 9, 2010) – Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Ralph Hall (R-Texas) are poised to head the House’s Energy and Commerce and Science committees, respectively. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is closely monitoring their statements regarding climate science and the nature of possible hearings they may hold.

“Now that the campaigns are over, it’s time to govern. This is not the time for committee chairs to drag us backward on public understanding of climate science,” said Lexi Shultz, UCS’s Legislative Director for Climate and Energy. “The fact is that climate change is here and it’s affecting the United States now. We can’t bury our heads in the sand and have the same old tired debates. Congress needs to follow the lead of states, cities, and leading companies and explore real solutions.”

Upton enjoys a reputation as a moderate on climate issues, but has made some statements critical of mainstream climate science, including continuing to give credence to debunked claims about emails stolen from climate scientists. Hall has more directly disparaged the science.

UCS climate scientist Brenda Ekwurzel noted that when politicians attack the science, they often try to unfairly tarnish the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and pass on misinformation about emails stolen from scientists last fall. But they rarely discuss more recent reports from the National Academy of Sciences and the United States Global Change Research Program—federal reports that identify the robust evidence for climate change consequences and the implications energy choices elected leaders and businesses are making today will have down the road.

“The federal government’s own scientists and experts say that climate change poses a dangerous threat to our health and our economy,” she said. “The verdict is in and has been in for a long time.”

In December 2009, Upton expressed his general support for reducing the heat-trapping emissions that drive climate change. “I think we can lower our emissions,” Upton said during a panel discussion. “I think the world will be better off if we did that, and we can do it without cap and trade.”

But in November 2010, Upton endorsed the idea of holding hearings to investigate debunked myths about scientists related to emails stolen from them a year prior to his statement. At the time of Upton's statement, no fewer than five investigations had cleared scientists of any scientific misconduct.

Hall, on the other hand, explicitly endorsed the worst accusations against climate scientists related to the stolen emails and linked his concerns to the Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific determination that climate change threatens public health. But, the EPA already rejected false claims related to the stolen emails and made it clear that its “endangerment” finding was based on a rigorous overview of the best available scientific evidence for the public health consequences of climate.

UCS challenges the incoming committee chairs to hold hearings on the latest policy-relevant science rather than wasting taxpayer dollars on baseless attacks on climate science and climate scientists.

The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading U.S. science-based nonprofit organization working for a healthy environment and a safer world. Founded in 1969, UCS is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Berkeley, Chicago and Washington, D.C.