We see here the same tactics used by other purveyors of nonsense rejected by the mainstream scientific community. Creationists, for example, only want to expose students to “both sides of the debate over origins,” ignoring the fact that there is no debate over evolution.
A number of angry letters to the Editor ensued, particularly one from a fellow named Steven J. Welcenbach, which claimed rather ominously that Mr. Baum would "be removed" as C&EN's Editor-in-chief.
Now Marc Morano has made Mr. Welcenbach his hero de jour, and has published a string of emails from Welcenbach in which he claims that Baum has censored articles and letters that reject man-made global warming claims.
I'm not going to get into the meat of Mr. Welcenbach's claims; they are the same old same old. I would merely point out that, as in so many cases, Morano rather wildly inflates Mr. Welcenbach's credentials. He appears to be neither a) an environmental chemist or b) a scientist in any halfway strict sense of the term.
In fact, Mr. Welcenbach has BS (Bachelor of Science) in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin. An undergraduate degree, in other words.
Furthermore, one of the companies Mr. Welcenbach owns--Third Coast Courier--is described by the State of Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources as a Solid Waste/Recyclables Transporter.
He hauls garbage, in other words. Not that garbage entrepreneurs are not entitled to have an opinion on Global Warming. It just doesn't really count as either a "scientific opinion" or even the opinion of a scientist.
Sorry Marc, gotcha again.
PS. Steve Bloom notes in the comments that it might be more fair to characterize Welcenbach's business as "toxic waste removal" or some such thing. Maybe, but here's a site that ranks his other business, Alchemical Ventures, as being one of the top "Rubbish & Garbage Removal Contractors " in Menomonee Falls, Wisc.
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