[MEDIA RELEASE]

Challenge to Global Warming Report Fails
Industry-Funded Group Barred from Re-filing Claim

A lawsuit designed to force the Federal government to suppress an important report on the impacts of climate change has been dropped by the group that filed the suit and, according to the terms of the settlement, cannot be re-filed.

The industry-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed suit against the Federal government in an attempt to suppress the 2000 National Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on the United States. The Assessment, which was the product of hundreds of top scientists from many different fields, warns that the United States may face serious impacts from climate change.

"Climate change poses a major threat to the United States and especially its water resources," warned Dr. Peter H. Gleick, a 2003 MacArthur Fellow and lead author of the National Assessment's water report. "The National Assessment, which was carefully peer-reviewed by hundreds of experts in different fields, represents the best thinking of the U.S.'s top scientists on the potential consequences of climate change for the nation. This is a victory for those who believe science has a role to play in informing policy, and a defeat for those who would try to deny the uncomfortable truth that climate change poses a serious threat to our economy, environment and well-being."

The National Assessment report can be found online.

"Water: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change for the Water Resources of the United States" is available online.