An Austin man, Leonid Goldstein, filed a lawsuit this week in Lubbock federal court related to global warming.
Goldstein sued the Climate Action Network, Ford Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and many other defendants.
The lawsuit said, “This is a civil suit against Climate Action Network and other corporations, who engaged in a long-term criminal scheme, involving a false claim that anthropogenic release (or emissions) of carbon dioxide caused a dangerous ‘global warming…’”
The lawsuit also said there was “persecution of the dissidents.”
Goldstein claimed in his lawsuit that the anthropogenic release of carbon dioxide significantly increases agricultural production worldwide. He also claimed the surface warming is insignificant and is expected to be globally beneficial.
Goldstein’s lawsuit claimed he was the victim of racketeering and therefore he has standing to file the lawsuit.
He described the racketeering in part as collaboration and conspiracy, witness tampering, bribing witnesses and public officials, and stealing from public funds.
The witness tampering was described in at least one instance as property damage but in other cases as smear campaigns in the media. As for bribery, Goldstein mentioned one professor who was paid to testify before Congress but never disclosed his pay.
Goldstein did not say how much money the professor was paid, and the lawsuit lacked specifics of how government officials were bribed.
The lawsuit said, “The defendants contacted multiple companies in Texas and other states, demanding them that they not hire [Goldstein] and not to do any business with [Goldstein].”
Goldstein said he lost an estimated $30,000 wages as a software engineer this year.
Goldstein is a permanent U.S. resident and a citizen of Israel. The lawsuit was not signed by an attorney, but instead Goldstein was representing himself. His lawsuit sought an unspecified amount of money.
The defendants have not yet filed their side of the story in federal court records.
No reason was given as to why the lawsuit was filed in Lubbock instead of Austin.
