Confirmed: Scientist Did Sign Petition Dissenting With Global Warming Theory

Last summer, South Dakota state Rep. Don Kopp (R-Dist. 35) wrote a letter to the editor of the Rapid City Journal in which he mentioned the more than 31,000 scientists who have signed a petition stating there is no convincing evidence that human release of “greenhouse gases” is causing or will cause catastrophic heating of our planet.

In December 2009, Perry Rahn wrote a letter to the editor of the Rapid City Journal in which he disputed the accuracy and reliability of the Petition Project. Rahn claimed he never signed the petition.

The Rapid City Journal did some investigative journalism and talked to Dr. Art Robinson, one of the scientists who organized the Petition Project; I also talked to Dr. Robinson myself around the same time Kevin Woster did his RCJ article.

Robinson told me that in the 13 years or so the Petition Project has been around, a handful of people have contacted him stating they did not remember signing the petition.  In order to remove a name from the list, Robinson requires a signed letter be sent.  Robinson said that in every such case, the signature of the requester has matched the original petition signature, and the person’s mailing address usually matches as well.

Interestingly, Rahn’s stance on the Petition Project changed from “I wouldn’t sign such a dumb thing like that” to “I think it’s a very low probability that I ever signed this thing and forgot” once he became aware of these verification procedures.

Rahn also mentioned in his letter to the editor that another person he knew, Dale Rognlie, was listed as a petition signer, but that Rognlie had died eight years earlier.  It would not be impossible at all for Rognlie to have signed the petition, since the Petition Project has been around since 1997, and the fact that a person dies does not in any way invalidate their opinion or signature denoting agreement with an opinion.  After all, the death of the signers of the Declaration of Independence does not in any way invalidate the Declaration or the agreement of the signers with it.

Janice Rognlie, the wife of the late Dale M. Rognlie, said she and her husband had never discussed the petition and wanted to know for herself whether her husband had actually signed the petition.  She contacted Dr. Robinson and he sent her a copy of Dale Rognlie’s petition signature card (see  below)

Mrs. Rognlie gave me a call and sent me a copy of the petition signature card.

“I was very glad to see my husband’s distinctive signature [from 1998] as well as the mailing or address label he always used,” she said.  ”This removes all suspicions I had about the legitimacy of the list of names Dr. Robinson has on his website.”

Mrs. Rognlie also told me this morning that she had contacted eight other South Dakotans that she knew or knew of who were also listed on the petition. She told me that some remembered signing the petition and some did not, but even those who did not remember signing said that they agreed with the opinion expressed in the opinion and would sign it.

She added, “Dr. Robinson has been maligned.  I hope this will right a wrong.”

Yes, I hope this will, too.  Mrs. Rognlie told me she met with Kevin Woster recently and given him a copy also.  She said he told her he plans to write a follow up story in the Rapid City Journal soon.

Watch the RCJ for that article.

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