Republicans plan climate change probe

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Conservatives in the U.S. Congress want a probe of e-mails between climate scientists discovered by computer hackers in the files of a British research center.

An aide to Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said the congressman plans to examine exchanges between other scientists and John Holdren, one of President Barack Obama's principal advisers on climate change, The Wall Street Journal reported. Issa is the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Sen. James Imhofe, R-Okla., a climate change skeptic, has also called for an investigation. Critics say the e-mails, obtained illicitly from the Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia University, show scientists tried to silence colleagues who did not agree with them.

"I'm happy to stand by my contribution to this exchange," Holdren said in a statement Monday. "I think anybody who reads what I wrote in its entirety will find it a serious and balanced treatment of the question of 'burden of proof' in situations where science germane to public policy is in dispute."