Say It Ain’t So, (Smokey) Joe! - The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars - page 103

commitment to service. At the end of that period, the university or college evaluates whether their
record merits a permanent position. 5 This process is intended to protect academic freedom in much
the same way that a lifetime appointment is intended to preserve the independence of judges in the
federal judiciary system. Ideally, tenure gives the academic an opportunity to pursue potentially risky,
unpopular, or controversial topics, and to challenge entrenched interests without the fear of loss of
livelihood.
Early summer 2005: My own tenure case at the University of Virginia was up that year, and no
decision had yet been announced. Meanwhile, an important energy bill with climate change policy
implications (it would establish incentive structures for various modes of energy production) was
expected to come up for a vote in Congress in the months ahead. What better time than now for the
foes of a proactive climate policy to seize upon anything that might be used to suggest a “scandal”
regarding the perceived scientific underpinnings of global warming? If they could entangle me in the
affair, it would be icing on the cake.
Smokey Joe Barton
That year, Joe Barton (R-TX) was the powerful head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
In April, he had been honored by the Annapolis Center, a group supported by fossil fuel interests, for
his work “supporting rational, science-based thinking and policy-making.” 6 His hometown paper, the
Dallas Morning News, had given him the nickname “Smokey Joe” for his efforts to exempt cement
plants in his district from stricter antismog rules. 7 One of the largest recipients of fossil fuel money in
the U.S. House of Representatives, he would be named one of Rolling Stone ' s seventeen most
notorious climate change “polluters and deniers” five years later. 8 He would also be accused of
unethical conflicts of interest regarding his personal stake in natural gas wells. 9 But it was his
infamous apology to British Petroleum in June 2010 (over the Obama administration holding it
accountable for its role in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico) that finally made
Joe Barton a household name. 10