The American Enterprise Institute (AEI ) is once again offering $10,000 payments to scientists who will comment on climate change – this time in the search for policy options that will open up a “middle ground” in the debate over climate change policy.

This fascinating-if-true development is reported here on the Science and Politics of Global Climate Change Blog.

For the record, the payment – for essays of between 7,500 and 10,000 words – is comparable to what a middling public magazine might pay for a badly researched piece of journalism. On one hand, if AEI offered more, it might hope to get more senior writers than those who contributed to the recently released Fraser Institute critique of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report.

On the other hand, if AEI offered more, we would be even quicker to accuse them of buying science. Their only real option is to proceed in good faith. If they really want to open up a helpful discussion of reasonable policy options, it will become obvious soon enough.