Judge rules Department of Energy’s climate working group was illegal

But the flaws were not limited to scientific deficiencies. Two advocacy organizations, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists, filed a lawsuit alleging that the Climate Task Force violated various provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. This requires that any groups formed to provide advice to the government be fairly balanced and keep records open to the public. The Climate Task Force, on the other hand, operated in secret; in fact, emails obtained during the trial showed that its members were advised to use private emails to limit public scrutiny of their communications.

In response, the DOE disbanded the Climate Working Group in order to claim that the legal issues were moot, as the advisory committee at issue in the lawsuit no longer existed.

No defense

In court, the government initially argued that the Federal Advisory Committee Act did not apply, saying the Climate Task Force was simply organized to provide information to the government. However, based on Friday’s ruling, once the court attempted to consider this issue, the government simply argued that the Climate Task Force no longer existed, and therefore all of this no longer mattered. “Defendants, in their opposition and in their subsequent filings, ignore the allegations relating to the [Federal Advisory Committee Act] violations themselves,” the judge says. “Instead, defendants argue only that these allegations are moot because the climate task force was disbanded.”

So the court only had accusations that the Climate Task Force had members with biased views, failed to hold public meetings, and failed to keep public records. In the absence of contrary arguments, “these violations are now established in law”.