Peter Fontaine, co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Utility, Environmental & Energy Practice Group, discusses representing Michael Mann, a Pennsylvania State University climate scientist, in ClimateWire. As the Trump administration appoints known climate change skeptics to cabinet positions, scientists are expressing increased concern about defending their work from legal harassment. Michael Mann, who created the “hockey stick” graph illustrating the spike in carbon emissions caused by humans, is cited as an example because his emails were  “targeted by groups linked to fossil fuel interests looking to discredit him.” Peter said, “Instilling fear in scientists trying to communicate about their work was an intentional step to inhibit an essential part of the scientific process.” He added that, “Those who were waging the battles on behalf of industry are now running the country, and so you have to ask if that is going to change the dynamic a little bit. Rather than being on the fringes and using disinformation to affect policy, they’re actually going to be making policy.”

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