"Where were you when I needed you?"
Climate scientist Jos de Laat on the DOE CWG and the biases of the climate beat
Roger Pielke Jr.
Aug 18, 2025
Fact checkers hard at work
This is a guest post by Jos de Laat, an accomplished climate scientist at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI). Jos explains of this guest post — “this is first and foremost a personal note on events unfolding the last couple of weeks that I had to get off my chest as they struck a particular sensitive chord.” I am thrilled to be able to bring Jos’ voice to a broader audience. For me, Jos experiences below provide a bit of a window into “consensus” enforcement by a small group of scientists and reinforced by their allies in the media. Jos writes something that I hear from a lot of scientists: “I felt powerless to set the record straight.” You are invited to discuss Jos’ post in the comments below. — RP
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A Guest Post by Jos de Laat
Just like Roger, I have recently been invited by both CarbonBrief and the Associated Press to comment on the recent DOE CWG report as one of my papers was referred to in that report. Associated Press also asked if I could provide my thoughts on the associated EPA proposal and would be willing to answer to a number of questions.
The citation and context for de Laat and Maurellis (2006) in the DOE CWG report.
The paper in question was de Laat and Maurellis (2006), a follow up study of de Laat and Maurellis (2004). Both papers appeared in respectable journals (International Journal of Climatology and Geophysical Research Letters) but are not particularly special in terms of citations –—twenty to eighty citations depending on the paper and how citations are counted.
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/where-were-you-when-i-needed-you
