U. of Virginia Faces Another Document Request—From Greenpeace

Virginia’s attorney general, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, raised hackles throughout higher education in April when he demanded a decade’s worth of documents from the University of Virginia so he could consider whether to bring fraud charges against a prominent global-warming researcher who used to teach at the university. But now, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports, Greenpeace has also been seeking climate-related documents from the university. In a Freedom of Information Act request filed in December, the organization asked for information about the former state climatologist, Patrick J. Michaels, and a retired environmental-science professor, S. Fred Singer, both of whom are prominent skeptics of global warming. Greenpeace wants “a list of grants that financed research by Michaels and Singer, and their conflict-of-interest statements and disclosure forms on outside income,” the newspaper reported. “It also seeks their correspondence with companies such as ExxonMobil and conservative advocacy organizations, as well as correspondence that mentions topics related to climate change.” The newspaper says the university has sought an extension on the Greenpeace request, and a Greenpeace spokesman says it has received no documents yet.