DOE's secret 'Climate Working Group' built the case for repealing the Endangerment Finding

Case

Wright's Energy Department assembled five hand-picked climate contrarians to write a report questioning mainstream climate science. EPA cited it 22 times in proposing to repeal the Endangerment Finding. A federal court ruled on Jan 30, 2026 that the group violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

Documentation
The court found the group operated in secret and gave 'substantive policy advice and recommendations' without the transparency and balanced membership the law requires.
EPA's Endangerment Finding repeal proposal cited the report 22 times. Internal DOE documents show the report was created to justify administration policy.
EPA finalized the repeal on Feb 12, 2026, removing the legal basis for federal greenhouse-gas limits on cars, power plants and oil fields. (See the 'Environmental deregulation under EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin' item.)
DOE disbanded the group on Sept. 3, 2025, and E&E News reports Wright told a judge it was disbanded in an effort to dismiss the case. Authors Judith Curry and Ross McKitrick said the five would keep working as an independent team to revise the report.
E&E News reported in January 2026, from court records, that administration officials had considered using the group to help write the National Climate Assessment; a DOE official named Fisher denied the group was preparing the next assessment.

Perspectives

Legal view — Federal court (Jan. 30, 2026 ruling)
The court found the group operated in secret and gave substantive policy advice and recommendations without the transparency and balanced membership the Federal Advisory Committee Act requires. The ruling left the report's content on the record, per the entry.

Critic — Union of Concerned Scientists
The Union of Concerned Scientists says internal DOE documents confirm the climate report was created to justify administration policy. It is an advocacy group; the entry notes the report's authors defend it, and mainstream scientific bodies reject its conclusions.

Editorial read — The Author (site author)
The Author's view is that commissioning a hand-picked group in secret to supply the scientific case for a decision already made undermines the credibility of the decision. This is interpretation. The court ruled the process illegal; the sources cited here do not include the report authors' own defense.

Defender — Energy Secretary Chris Wright (August 2025 interview)
Wright defended the report while saying he encouraged debate over it. He said the authors worked quickly to assemble a great amount of material, that mistakes can be made, and that he had seen a few small ones, which will be fixed; he did not say what they were. The interview predates the Jan. 30, 2026 court ruling. The report's five authors, whom Wright selected, include John Christy, Judith Curry and Ross McKitrick, whom the outlet describes as widely considered skeptics or contrarians. The authors' own statements were not found.

Defender — Judith Curry, Ross McKitrick and Steven Koonin (report authors)
In a Sept. 10, 2025 post by Roger Pielke Jr., Curry says the five members intend to keep working as an independent team, revising the report, responding to comments and preparing additional reports, and McKitrick says they were told they are free as individual scientists to continue the debate the report prompted. Per E&E News search excerpts (full page not retrievable), Curry said DOE "dropped the ball" by leaving them an ad hoc group instead of an official one, and Koonin said he hopes to hold a public debate on climate science. Curry faults DOE's setup rather than disputing the report's content.

Official position — Energy Department and Travis Fisher (DOE official who helped organize the report)
Fisher, who helped organize the report at DOE, told commentator Roger Pielke Jr. that the line between climate science and climate policy is vanishing, that scientists shouldn't try to play policymakers, and that science can inform but cannot govern. Per E&E News search excerpts (full pages not retrievable), Wright told a judge the group was disbanded in an effort to dismiss the case, and a DOE official named Fisher denied the group was preparing the next National Climate Assessment while declining to comment on court-released emails suggesting officials had considered that role.

Note
The court ruled the process illegal but left the report's content on the record; its authors defend it, while mainstream scientific bodies reject its conclusions.

Sources
[1] EDF (https://www.edf.org/media/court-rules-trump-administrations-secret-climate-working-group-violated-federal-law)
[2] C&EN (https://cen.acs.org/policy/litigation/doe-climate-working-group-illegal/104/web/2026/02)
[3] UCS (https://blog.ucs.org/science-blogger/internal-doe-documents-confirm-climate-report-was-created-to-justify-administration-policy/)
[4] Washington Examiner: Chris Wright defends DOE report on climate change despite 'small mistakes' (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy-and-environment/3778723/chris-wright-climate-change-report-energy-department-small-mistakes/) · 2025-08-22
[5] E&E News: Disbanded DOE climate group vows to continue work (https://www.eenews.net/articles/disbanded-doe-climate-group-vows-to-continue-work/) · 2025-09
[6] E&E News: DOE sees bigger role for climate contrarians, records show (https://www.eenews.net/articles/doe-sees-bigger-role-for-climate-contrarians-records-show) · 2026-01-12
[7] Roger Pielke Jr., The Honest Broker: DOE Climate Working Group RIP (https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/doe-climate-working-group-rip) · 2025-09

Connections

Related — Endangerment finding rescission and the repeal of vehicle greenhouse-gas standards (Feb. 2026)
That entry covers the Energy Department report that EPA cited in proposing the repeal finalized here.

Same actor — Energy Department cancels $7.6 billion in climate and clean-energy awards, including research grants (Oct. 2025)
Both concern Energy Secretary Chris Wright's Energy Department: its award terminations and its commissioned climate report.

Related — Environmental deregulation under EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin
Cause/effect: EPA cited the illegal DOE report 22 times to repeal the Endangerment Finding.

Related — Oil and gas insiders running the energy agencies: Wright, Burgum, and the appointee pipeline
Same actor: Wright's DOE convened the group.

Related — Synthesis: Big Oil's return on investment across the whole administration
The manufactured scientific basis for the biggest rollback.

Related — The National Climate Assessment and USGCRP: dismissed authors, a dark website and a skeptic in charge (2025-2026)
S&P Global reports that Judith Curry, co-author of the Energy Department climate report used to support repealing the endangerment finding, congratulated the new USGCRP director.