The Honorable Lamar Smith Chair, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology United States House of Representatives 2318 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 September 13, 2016 Dear Chairman Smith: As scientists committed to principles of scientific freedom, we write to urge you to cease your investigation of private civil society organizations that are working to hold ExxonMobil accountable for misrepresenting the work of the company's own climate change scientists. Your actions risk disrupting the ability of private citizens and organizations to blow the whistle on the politicization of science. Further, while you claim an interest in guarding against "a chilling effect" on scientists, you are inappropriately interfering in investigations that will determine whether ExxonMobil created such a chilling effect by suppressing its own scientists' findings. ExxonMobil scientists have long been involved in climate research. In fact, evidence recently emerged that ExxonMobil scientists warned the company about climate change risks as early as the 1970s. As a result, a number of state attorneys general are investigating whether ExxonMobil committed fraud by downplaying the work of its on scientists on the risks posed to the company by climate change to their shareholders and the public. Several private civil society organizations have provided information to guide the attorneys general investigations. In response, you have repeatedly demanded access to their correspondence, claiming an interest in "ensuring that all scientists...have the freedom to pursue any and all legitimate avenues of inquiry." Yet by shining a light on ExxonMobil's disregard for the work of its own scientists, this freedom is precisely what these organizations are striving to protect. It is ExxonMobil's decision to misrepresent climate science to shareholders and the public, including the work of their own scientists, not the ability of its scientists to pursue research, which is being questioned. Free speech for scientists does not mean freedom for their employers to misrepresent that science. For example, pharmaceutical companies should not be allowed to lie to their investors or their customers about the safety and efficacy of drugs when their own tests show them to be dangerous or ineffective. Further, you write that Congress has the responsibility to "ensure that scientific endeavors are free from threats and intimidation." However, when National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) climate scientists published research showing the rate of climate change has not decreased in recent years, you made repeated demands on NOAA for the scientists' deliberations. In response, eight leading scientific societies expressed "grave concern" about your actions, suggesting that "science cannot thrive when policy makers...use policy disagreements as a pretext to attack scientific conclusions without public evidence." Your most recent actions suggest that you are willing to misuse your power to shield companies that suppress science and attack researchers who report such conduct. We agree that scientists must have protections to pursue cutting-edge scientific research regardless of the results of that research. One way to accomplish this is to increase consequences for the deliberate misrepresentation of scientific evidence. Ceasing your investigation of those who are working to hold companies accountable for misrepresenting science is a good first step. Sincerely, The undersigned (2,143 signatories) CC: Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson John Hettinger Michael Whalen Kara Johnson Anchorage AK 99507-1324 Fairbanks AK 99709-6431 Cordova AK 99574-0954 M.S., Computer Science Ph.D., Earth Sciences M.S., Ecology Interdisciplinary Sedimentary Geology Marine Ecology J. 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