Sen. Boxer says climate science hearings are 'absolutely' in the works

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is issuing a challenge to skeptics of climate change science: Bring it on.

Boxer said Wednesday that she's expecting hearings on the issue.

She said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who is expected to head the panel's oversight subcommittee, "is working on getting us going with some hearings."

"We are going to absolutely look at the science of carbon pollution and its impact on our people, on our planet," Boxer said at a committee hearing on drinking water safety. "We are absolutely going to keep up with the science."

Boxer's comments followed claims by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) — Capitol Hill's leading climate skeptic — that global warming science remains unsettled.

Inhofe again pointed to e-mails among climate scientists hacked from a prominent British research institute in late 2009 in what became known as the "Climategate" affair. He called it a major scandal. 

Inhofe and other skeptics say the messages revealed efforts to squelch data that undercut evidence of warming. But multiple outside reviews cleared the scientists of claims that they tried to cook the books.

Inhofe is co-sponsoring bills that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency's power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The dominant — but not unanimous — view among climate scientists is that the earth is warming and that human actions such as burning coal and oil are a major cause.