Will based his claim on this article in DailyTech:
dailytech.com

When ACRC makes the claim:

” We do not know where George Will is getting his information, but our data shows that on February 15, 1979, global sea ice area was 16.79 million sq. km and on February 15, 2009, global sea ice area was 15.45 million sq. km. Therefore, global sea ice levels are 1.34 million sq. km less in February 2009 than in February 1979. This decrease in sea ice area is roughly equal to the area of Texas, California, and Oklahoma combined.”

they are the ones spreading misinformation. They know full well where the Will got his data, since they are the source… But they chose to create a strawman and compare with the most current data, from Feb 15, apparently to avoid the issue that Will’s statement on late 2008 ice extent being equal to 1979 was true.

This is dishonest, since they knew full well to which time frame he was referring. Basing their strawman on faulty data makes it more embarrasing, but is really beside the point. Will was right - the NCRC tried and failed to confuse the issue.

The statement has now been withdrawn from the ACRC website, and Zimmern has updated his blog.

Will appears to be impopular for a lot of other reasons - but on this issue he appears to be right.