Senator John Barasso calls for investigation on UN climate panel

As the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change faces more pressure on the questions of its scientific sourcing and merit, Republican Senator John Barasso is ordering an investigation.

The science of climate change - and the policies born of that science - faced renewed pressure after Republican Senator John Barasso of Wyoming called for an investigation of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and for the panel's chief, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri to resign. At the heart of the matter is the 2007 climate change study released by the panel that projects unsubstantiated outcomes and threats from global warming. The United Nations panel recently faced significant embarrassment after it was revealed that its estimates on the decline of mountain ice were based on a student's dissertation and the anecdotal evidence of some amateur mountain climbers. "The integrity of the data and the integrity of the science have been compromised," Barasso said, according to The Wall Street Journal. "The scientific data behind these policies must be independently verified."