Yestarday, the American Tradition Institute (ATI), a nonprofit public policy organization, filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the University of Virginia to release global warming-related documents pertaining to former faculty member Michael Mann. The request follows multiple civil investigative demands by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli for grant documents tied to Mann, a climate scientist who was involved in the much publicized "climate-gate."
In May of last year, Cuccinelli asked UVA to turn over all documents and related to $485,000 in federal grants obtained my Mann, who now works at Penn State University. Cuccinelli justified his request under the Virginia’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (FATA). UVA countered that Cuccinelli’s request threatened academic freedom, and an Albemarle County judge dismissed the request.
ATI wants UVA to look for the information in a specific backup server. “These records address one of the highest-profile claims used to advance massive economic interventions policies in the name of ‘global warming,’” reads a press release from the organization.
ATI "hopes for prompt University compliance with FOIA, although we are prepared to fully protect our appellate rights. We can then, finally, determine what it is that so many have gone to such great lengths to keep the public from knowing about that which the public has paid for.”
According to the institute, UVA has seven days to produce the documents, "with no exemption for UVA’s arguments used to block Cuccinelli." For background information on the debate, click here. For a cover story on Cuccinelli, click here.
