16 Jul 2016 Climate Change News: Penn State’s Michael Mann Whines Again

A friend brought to my attention that Michael Mann, a ‘Distinguished Professor’ of Atmospheric Science at Penn State University, is whining again that the National Center for Public Policy Research, in 2010, questioned the Obama Administration’s decision to send taxpayer dollars his way for economic stimulus purposes.

Mann’s complaint is a perfect example of why so many of us are skeptical of his reliability on other matters, such as climate.

Mann complains, in his words,

In mid-January 2010, a group known as the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), which receives funding from the Scaife Foundations, led a campaign to have my NSF grants revoked. The perverse premise was that I was somehow pocketing millions of dollars [emphasis added] of “Obama” stimulus money simply because I was a coinvestigator on several recently funded NSF grants. These absurd distortions were–no surprise–promoted by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and others of similar persuasion.

Perhaps it is unkind of me to point out the truth if a man so enjoys believing he is being persecuted that he’s still complaining 6 1/2 years later, but our press release (which did get a lot of coverage) objected to the Administration granting the amount of $541,184 to Mann at Penn State.

How could we be implying he pocketed millions when we said he was granted little more than half a million?

And if we thought he pocketed it, why did we ask Penn State — not him — to return it?

The last time I heard from Michael Mann he was tweeting that I supposedly have a “[#KochBrother funded anti-environmental] agenda.” I objected via a return Tweet, as neither I nor my employer receives funding from the Koch brothers. (What an “anti-environmental agenda” might be remains unclear.) Rather than issue a correction, he blocked me.

Not the most reliable guy, I think. This is worth remembering when he makes policy recommendations that could cost the taxpayers billions.