Bob Webster, Vero Beach

Letter: Story asserting reversal by climate skeptic omits important facts

The Associated Press is at it again. More bias masquerading as news.

A story headlined, “Prominent skeptic says he now believes global warming is real,” is another example of the AP propagandizing.

First, it is debatable whether it would be appropriate to characterize professor Richard Muller as a “prominent skeptic.” I’ve followed climate and weather for more than five decades and own an extensive library of books and online material devoted to claims of human-caused global warming. None of those resources, including “The Deniers” and “Shattered Consensus,” featuring interviews and essays from prominent scientific skeptics, contain his name.

Second, Muller’s claim first came to light in a piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal he titled, “Cooling the Warming Debate,” based on data from the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project. Wall Street Journal editors changed it to “End of Skepticism,” and Muller was not happy with the change because it misrepresented his position. In fact, he takes no position on the cause of claimed warming. You wouldn’t know that from the AP story.

Third, the AP article concluded by repeating the unsupportable claim that an “overwhelming majority of climate scientists” attribute late 20th century warming to burning fossil fuels. That claim is pure rubbish simply tacked onto the Muller story. Neither Muller nor the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project made any claim about the cause of climate change that most scientists consider normal variability.

Finally, one of Muller’s BEST project co-authors, well-known distinguished climate researcher professor Judith Curry, chair of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech, stated Muller’s claim was a “huge mistake” and had no scientific basis. Curry accused Muller of failing to note that the BEST data showed global warming stopped a decade ago.

Please stick to the facts, AP.