Scientists or shills?

In his letter in today’s Spokesman-Review, Phil Thayer (“Other info on global warming,” March 26) encouraged the readers to look up some “information” that he claims will show that the bulk of recent global warming has been caused by unnamed natural forces. The references he points to are the scientists Fred Singer, Roy Spencer, Dennis Hart and Tim Ball.

I also encourage the readers to look up information pertaining to these gentlemen, but more of it than Mr. Thayer suggests. If you do, you will find that all of these scientists have been consistent hard-core deniers of human-caused warming who have provided no convincing scientific argument for their case in the peer-reviewed journals of climate science.

In addition, the first one listed, Fred Singer, has played similar roles in other environmental controversies – serving as an “expert witness” in lawsuits concerning stratosphere ozone depletion by the chlorofluorocarbons, the health effects of second-hand smoke, and the warming of our planet by fossil fuel combustion. Note that in each case, he has served on the side of the industries involved.

While Mr. Thayer might buy the notion that a single scientist could be an expert in all three of those relatively complex areas, I certainly do not and suspect that his “scientific opinions” in each case were not worth the pieces of silver he was paid.

Eric Grimsrud,Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, Montana State University

Liberty Lake