Wei-Hock Soon and the best Climate Change Denial money can buy

The NYT, relying on FOIA information obtained by Greenpeace.

He (Dr. Soon) has accepted more than $1.2 million in money from the fossil-fuel industry over the last decade while failing to disclose that conflict of interest in most of his scientific papers. At least 11 papers he has published since 2008 omitted such a disclosure, and in at least eight of those cases, he appears to have violated ethical guidelines of the journals that published his work.

The documents show that Dr. Soon, in correspondence with his corporate funders, described many of his scientific papers as “deliverables” that he completed in exchange for their money. He used the same term to describe testimony he prepared for Congress.

Climate Change is a conspiracy ... er, Climate Change Denial seems to be. Pro tip: most scientists don't view testimony before Congress as a deliverable product.

Charles R. Alcock, director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center, acknowledged on Friday that Dr. Soon had violated the disclosure standards of some journals.

“I think that’s inappropriate behavior,” Dr. Alcock said. “This frankly becomes a personnel matter, which we have to handle with Dr. Soon internally.”

And I hope they scrupulously follow the existing rules to the letter. Dr. Soon is entitled to his academic freedom; he is not entitled to use that principle to excuse unethical behavior.