Central New York environmental experts, Dan Maffei criticize Ann Marie Buerkle's stance on global warming

Buerkle said she was referring to a scandal involving leaked e-mails from climate scientists.

View full sizeStephen D. Cannerelli / The Post-StandardDemocratic Congressman Dan Maffei listens to a point being made by his challenger, Republican candidate Ann Marie Buerkle, at YNN Studios at Time Warner Cable in East Syracuse on Wednesday.

Syracuse, NY -- A group of six prominent Central New York scientists and environmental leaders Thursday condemned Republican congressional candidate Ann Marie Buerkle for her comments in a televised debate in which she questioned whether global climate change was real.

The group, including Cornelius Murphy, president of the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry, said they wanted to set the record straight on the consensus opinion – that global climate change is happening and posing a threat — reached over decades by top scientists from around the world .

“This is not new,” Murphy said. “This has been known by scientists for decades. We’re going to have changes of ocean levels of 1- to 4-feet by the end of the next century. We’re going to have a temperature change of 8- to 9-degrees. This demands action, not denial. Climate change is real.”

Buerkle’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt, gathered the group at Thornden Park in Syracuse to respond to Buerkle on Thursday. The group included local leaders from the Sierra Club, Citizens Campaign from the Environment and former WSYR-TV meteorologist Dave Eichorn, now an adjunct professor at SUNY Oswego.

Buerkle said in an interview Thursday that Maffei misrepresented her position, and it is unfair of the group to criticize her.

In the debate televised by Your News Now on Wednesday, Buerkle said “a lot of the global warming myth has been exposed.” But on Thursday she said she was referring to a scandal among climate scientists, whose leaked emails suggested they may have had a personal bias.

Buerkle, however, said she believes “the jury is still out” on the bigger issue of global climate change.

Contact Washington correspondent Mark Weiner at mweiner@syracuse.com or 571-970-2039.