UW Madison Faculty Challenges DNR Climate Change Revision

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A group of University of Wisconsin-Madison professors are ripping the state Department of Natural Resources for scrubbing language from its website that declared human activity is causing climate change.

The Republican-controlled agency quietly changed the language last month to say the cause of climate change is debatable.

Seven UW-Madison climate, zoology and ecology professors released a column Monday saying the new language incorrectly implies climate change is mysterious when it's clearly caused by greenhouse gases produced by burning fossil fuels.

The scientists say failing to properly inform the public is a violation of trust. They say the DNR is turning its back on its own tradition of applying the best science available in the public interest.

A DNR spokesman didn't immediately respond to a message.