We write this letter in response to Francis J. Menton’s article “Issues of Proof in Climate Change Litigation” (Dec. 29, 2009). Under the guise of objectively analyzing issues of proof concerning climate change in Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co. and Comer v. Murphy Oil USA, Mr. Menton suggests that the science behind climate change is far from settled and that climate change may not be occurring. As proof of this, Mr. Menton relies on several well-known arguments used by climate change skeptics. We wish to respond to three of these: (1) that the “hockey stick” graph of temperatures over the past 1,600 years has been disproved; (2) that the so-called “climategate” hacking of emails from the University of East Anglia in England shows that climatologists are conspiring to hide the truth about climate change; and (3) that projections of global temperature rise in the 21st century are wrong and that there is no scientific consensus that climate change is occurring.
Mr. Menton first argues that the “hockey stick” temperature data showing a rapid rise in temperature and used in the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report has been essentially debunked. As evidence, he cites the so-called Wegman Report, which concluded that the analysis was faulty. However, commentators have pointed out that correction of the errors pointed out in the Wegman Report do not substantially change the shape of the graph.1
