Press Releases

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) today joined 84 members of the United States House of Representatives in opposing the appointment of longtime climate change denier David Legates as deputy assistant secretary of Commerce for environmental observation and prediction, a leading role at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA). Legates is a professor with a long history of casting doubt on climate science, and this role gives him the potential to seriously damage the agency’s scientific integrity. The letter is available online here. 

“For decades, large fossil fuel companies have known about the devastating effects of carbon emissions on our planet, withheld evidence from the public, and funded misinformation campaigns to obscure the role of fossil fuels in promoting emissions on the climate. During Legates’ testimony in the U.S. House of Representatives, he asserted that increasing concentrations of carbon emissions have no effect on rising sea levels,” said the lawmakers in their letter. “To the U.S. Senate, Legates argued that increasing carbon dioxide emissions is “a positive and any potential negative effects are minimal” for agriculture, aquaculture and fishing. This kind of science denial threatens the work of NOAA, which has recognized the immense challenges climate change poses for our fishing industries and coastal communities.”

The lawmakers continued: “[Legates] has rejected the scientific consensus that human activity is contributing to global warming, devoted his career to discrediting the work of climate researchers, and applauded President Trump’s decision to break from the Paris climate accord. In short, he is undoubtedly the wrong choice to play a key leadership role at NOAA.”

Legates’ nomination to NOAA comes as wildfires have consumed millions of acres in the American west, an unprecedented hurricane season has ravaged the American south, and the Gulf of Maine recorded its hottest day ever in August. Maine’s ocean is rapidly acidifying and the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99 percent of Earth’s waters. Ocean acidification is linked to an increase in carbon dioxide levels because our oceans partially absorb the greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, our oceans have become 30 percent more acidic which has created challenging growing conditions for shelled organisms and sea creatures. Without action, Maine’s economic livelihoods—fishing, tourism, and ocean-related activities—are in peril.

Pingree is the author of H.R. 1716, the Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act, which would require federal research on the socioeconomic impact of ocean acidification on coastal communities. H.R. 1716 unanimously passed the House of Representatives on June 5, 2019. 

Full text of the lawmakers’ letter is available online here and below:

Dear Secretary Ross and Acting Under Secretary Jacobs: 

We write to express our strong opposition to the appointment of an outspoken climate denier to a top role at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), one of the world’s leading authorities in climate science research. David Legates’ appointment to NOAA obviously undermines the agency’s core mission to “understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coasts, and to share that information with our public.” As the new deputy assistant secretary of Commerce for environmental observation and prediction—reporting directly to the acting NOAA administrator—Legates would clearly be in a position to seriously damage the agency’s scientific integrity. 

David Legates has a long history of casting doubt on climate science with his questionable publications and significant funding from the fossil fuel industry. He has rejected the scientific consensus that human activity is contributing to global warming, devoted his career to discrediting the work of climate researchers, and applauded President Trump’s decision to break from the Paris climate accord. In short, he is undoubtedly the wrong choice to play a key leadership role at NOAA. 

For decades, large fossil fuel companies have known about the devastating effects of carbon emissions on our planet, withheld evidence from the public, and funded misinformation campaigns to obscure the role of fossil fuel in promoting emissions on the climate. During Legates’ testimony in the U.S. House of Representatives, he asserted that increasing concentrations of carbon emissions have no effect on rising sea levels.4 To the U.S. Senate, Legates argued that increasing carbon dioxide emissions is “a positive and any potential negative effects are minimal” for agriculture, aquaculture and fishing. This kind of science denial threatens the work of NOAA, which has recognized the immense challenges climate change poses for our fishing industries and coastal communities. Climate deniers appointed to lead the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior have already sidelined climate scientists, removed entire websites, altered climate communications, and prevented scientists from speaking out publicly. More than a hundred scientists at NOAA have reported censorship of the phrase “climate change” in their work. We cannot allow Legates to discredit the dedicated researchers at NOAA in their essential work.

Climate change is an existential threat imperiling communities across America. As wildfires rage and consume millions of acres in the Western U.S., scientists at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) have reported that 2020 was the hottest summer on record for the Northern Hemisphere. NCEI scientists tracking trends in global temperatures have also reported that the last five years were the warmest ever documented. A 2019 non-partisan report, commissioned by former Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley, later appointed to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President Trump, delivered a sober warning that we are “precariously underprepared for the national security implications of climate change.” While Legates promotes the fossil fuel industry’s agenda and derides taxpayer dollars spent on mitigating the “undetectable effects of climate change,” the staggering cost of failing to address climate change is terrifying to the rest of us working to save a livable future for our children and grandchildren. 

We urge you to reconsider this decision and commit to preserving the scientific independence, integrity and effectiveness of NOAA. Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter and we look forward to your response. 

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