Hostile Climate for New NOAA Hires

A group of 85 Democrats led by Reps. Jamie Raskin (Md.), Suzanne Bonamici (Ore.) and Kathy Castor (Fla.) wrote to the heads of NOAA and the Commerce Department asking for the appointment of climatology professor David Legates to be withdrawn. "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," they wrote.