Oil Giant Accused of Funding Global Warming 'Disinformation'

Accusing ExxonMobil of funding a "disinformation campaign" against global warming, an environmental activist group said Wednesday the oil giant has been paying advocacy groups to create confusion about climate change.

The corporation and two of the organizations targeted by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) dismissed the allegation, variously calling it a smear, "junk," and motivated by a left-wing agenda.

In a new report, the UCS charged that ExxonMobil "doesn't want you to know the facts about global warming" and that it "vehemently opposes any governmental regulation that would require significantly expanded investments in clean energy technologies or reductions in global warming emissions."

Alden Meyer, UCS director of strategy and policy, said during a conference call that ExxonMobil had "for years underwritten the most sophisticated and most successful disinformation campaign whose aim has been to deceive the public and policy makers about the reality of global warming."

Meyer accused the corporation of giving some $16 million over the past seven years "to a network of ideological and advocacy organizations that manufacture uncertainty on the issue."

Meyer said the UCS report names 43 ExxonMobil-funded organizations which he claimed "seek to manufacture uncertainty about the strong scientific consensus that global warming is caused by the buildup of carbon dioxide and other heat trapping emissions in the atmosphere -- and that this buildup is the direct result of human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels."

"These groups promote spokespeople who misrepresent peer reviewed scientific findings, or cherry-pick the facts in an attempt to mislead the media and the public into thinking that there is rigorous debate among the mainstream scientific community about global warming," Meyer said.

Upending claims frequently made by global warming skeptics, Meyer accused the named organizations of crafting data "to look like legitimate science."

ExxonMobil spokesman Dave Gardner called the report "yet another attempt to smear our name and confuse the discussion of the serious issue of CO2 emissions and global climate change."

Gardner told Cybercast News Service ExxonMobil believes "greenhouse gas emissions are one of the factors that contribute to climate change, and that the use of fossil fuels is a major source of these emissions."

The corporation was also taking "significant" steps to reduce the emissions, he said - making its operations less energy intensive, pursuing research with engine and vehicle manufacturers to improve transportation efficiency, and carrying out advanced research "to pursue breakthroughs in technology for future energy sources."

On the funding allegations, Gardner said the corporation supports "a fairly broad array of organizations that research significant domestic and foreign policy issues and promote discussion on issues of direct relevance to the company."

"As most of these organizations are independent of their corporate sponsors and are tax-exempt, our financial support does not connote any substantive control over or responsibility for the policy recommendations or analyses they produce," Gardner added.

"As you might expect, in many cases and with respect to the full range of policy positions taken by these organizations, we find some of them persuasive and enlightening, and some not," he said.

"But there is value in the debate they prompt if it can lead to better informed and more optimal public policy decisions," Gardner added.

Of the organizations cited in the UCS report, the biggest recipient of ExxonMobil funding - about $2 million - was the free market-based Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).

Myron Ebell, CEI director of energy and global warming policy, dismissed the report as "just a piece of junk."

"These claims that we are part of some conspiracy, that we're misleading the public, that we're misrepresenting the science, I reject that," Ebell told Cybercast News Service.

"They are completely false, and they are certainly not proved by this junky, rubbishy report. These are just assertions," he said.

"This whole list has been published over and over again," Ebell said, noting that one of the documents cited by the UCS was an email sent by himself, which he said had been taken out of context.

"We have been the grateful recipients of some major contributions from ExxonMobil, and we wish we could get more corporations to contribute so we could do more on global warming," he said.

"We are not a scientific group. We are a policy group," Ebell added. "We believe in limited government and political and economic liberties. We address issues and promote those policies that we think will do the most to limit government and promote liberty based on what the scientific facts are."

Other organizations listed by the UCS included the Media Research Center (MRC), the parent organization of Cybercast News Service. The report said the MRC had received $150,000 from ExxonMobil between 1998 and 2005.

MRC founder and President Brent Bozell said Wednesday ExxonMobil's total contribution to the MRC "represents two-tenths of one percent of our operating budget during this study period. If that influences us, we're cheap ... how is that influencing anything that we do?"

"I have never had a conversation - and I know no one at the MRC has ever had a conversation - with anyone at Exxon where Exxon has ever put any kind of controls or any kind of strings on any kind of contribution," Bozell said.

"Nor has the MRC ever made any kind of commitments in return for any kind of contributions. It would be professional suicide if the MRC ever did that for anyone," he said.

Bozell called the UCS "a left-wing activist organization with a left-wing activist political agenda."

"The Union of Concerned Scientists is trying to position itself as being some kind of objective, centrist, moderate, apolitical entity when it is nothing of the sort," he said.

Dave, your link bears repeating...

Union of Concerned Scientists Issues False, Misleading Report

A few simple questions to ask liberal 'friends' about Global Warming:

*Why is Greenland named Greenland?
*What was the Medieval Warm Period?
*What was the solar activity during that period?
*What is the solar activity (brightness) today?

For those not familiar, here is a Wiki link to get you started

Why is Greenland named Greenland?

From the article you cited:

"It is said that Erik the Red was exiled from Iceland for murder. He, along with his extended family and thralls, set out in ships to find the land that was rumored to be to the northwest. After settling there, he named the land Grænland ("Greenland"), possibly in order to attract more people to settle there. Greenland was also called Gruntland ("Ground-land") on early maps. Whether Green is an erroneous transcription of Grunt ("Ground"), which refers to shallow bays, or vice versa, is not known. It should also be noted, however, that the southern portion of Greenland (not covered by glacier) is indeed very green in the summer."

What was the Medieval Warm Period?

A period of warmer climate preceding the Little Ice Age.

What was the solar activity during that period?

Judging from data that can be gathered, about the same as today.

Hmm, let's see what we can find out about the author of that rebuttal op-ed, Mr. Ebell:

"In March 2002 he [Ebell] wrote a memo to Philip Cooney, which Greenpeace later obtained,[10] outlining their strategy for dealing with what Ebell saw as problems caused by the Climate Action Report 2002,[11] which the US government had submitted to the UN. The crucial paragraph of this memo reads:

"As I said, we made the decision this morning to do as much as we could to deflect criticism by blaming the EPA for freelancing. It seems to me that the folks at the EPA are the obvious fall guys, and we would only hope that the fall guy (or gal) should be as high up as possible. I have done several interviews and have stressed that the president needs to get everyone rowing in the same direction. Perhaps tomorrow we will call for [Christine Todd Whitman] to be fired. I know that that doesn't sound like much help, but it seems to me that our only leverage to push you in the right direction is to drive a wedge between the President and those in the Administration who think they are serving the president's best interests by publishing this rubbish."

Source: Myron Ebell

Additional supporting material: Investigation of Exxon front group (sorry, the link to the actual memo doesn't appear to be working)

Of course, Philip Cooney, who was working at the White House and who was the recipient of the memo from Ebell, left the White House to work for -- ExxonMobil.

So why am I not surprised that Mr. Ebell would opine that the UCS report is "misleading"?

You are wrong about Greenland.

It was was settled by the Vikings during the Medieval warm period. The settlement was no different from any other European village with traders, craftsmen, farmers and even a church. Yes it is true that the name Greenland was used to a certain degree to attract people but the fact of the matter is the people stayed because it really was a "green" and fruitful place to live during the MWA. This all changed when the little ice age hit all of Europe.

The climate in Greenland in particular changed so drastically that Viking livestock had to be housed in barns for 7 months out of the year because of the cold. Crops could not be grown and the trading ships from other European countries could not sail in the waters around Greenland because it was full of ice most of the year.

So yes the name was used as PR to get people there but once there they stayed, because it was a pretty nice place to live. Climate change, caused by the sun changed the temperature of the earth and drove the vikings from Greenland. Many of them died of starvation.

My guess is that what caused the warming and cooling of the earth 500 years ago is the force that is causing it today.

Unfortunately the Marxist environmentalists of today, much to their consternation, can't control the sun. What they can do however is blame climate change on the Industrialists while ignoring the over riding factor of Climate change, the sun.

My comment was directed at the origin of the name; I was recently alerted to the fact that Greenland was not primarily named that because it was green (even though, even now, parts of it are). It had a slightly more amenable climate for habitation during the MWP, that is true and I'm not disputing it.

My guess is that what caused the warming and cooling of the earth 500 years ago is the force that is causing it today.

The scientific community is indicating very strongly that your guess is inaccurate.

I'm sad to say I've got a 33-yr-old daughter and a 39-yr-old SIL who refuse to consider politics and its affect in their lives. And he's a UAW worker!

Democrats = one thing and one thing only: tax and spend. You don't need a PhD in economics to understand this takes money out of circulation. Raising the min. wage is nothing more than a shell game.

D-uh.

I'm sad to say I've got a 33-yr-old daughter and a 39-yr-old SIL who refuse to consider politics and its affect in their lives. And he's a UAW worker!
Democrats = one thing and one thing only: tax and spend. You don't need a PhD in economics to understand this takes money out of circulation. Raising the min. wage is nothing more than a shell game.

I think there are many flavors of Democrats. My dad was in the UAW for 20+ years and to him the Party means one thing and one thing only. Labor. To my Dad the laborer is on the moral high ground in this country. He has always viewed his employee as the rich bad guy from which it is the union's job to extort money.

To the baby aborting feminist the party is about Women's rights. To the tree hugger the party is about Mother Earth. To the Homo the party is about sexual promiscuity. Oh what a wretched party it is.

Scary that more aren't as alert as you and I. My grandfather was pro-union. TX in the 50s had no GOP. Since that time, the parties have reversed positions on some things.

Roe v Wade was the single worst decision ever to come from the SCOTUS, IMHO. Ginsberg wants age of consent reduced to 12. For the life of me, I can't fathom what that will accomplish except for keeping them young, dumb, and pregnant to flesh out their voting base. CREEPY.

What my dad refuses to acknowledge is that politics is pure religion. Just take global warming for example. The only way to believe in that piece of politics is to believe in all of the religion behind evolution including a 5 billion year old earth that supports life by chance. Ditto for every other political topic, even the fiscal ones.

It took me a minute to wrap my mind around that one until I considered what their Commandments might look like:

1. Thou shalt stop at nothing to ensure power.

2. Thou shalt not shat on thy fellow liberal.

3. Thou shalt ensure that the family be destroyed in the
name of female quality and by the use of abortion.

4. Thou shalt tax and spend thy way to the elections by
ensuring that the middle class pays for the lower
class and that limousine liberals shall be exempt.

5. Thou shalt lie like a rug when cornered.

6. Thou shalt cheat and steal when able to without
detection [Clinton White House china...]

7. Thou shalt practice and master the art of deception.

8. Thou shalt go to ghettos to reassure the meek.

9. Thou shalt get on every pork project thou is't able.

10. Thou shalt greater wrath than a woman scorned.

The scientific community is indicating very strongly that your guess is inaccurate.

For clarity, which scientific community are you refering to; a) the community that believes we are causing global warming today thru man made emissions, etc, or b) the community that believes the sun was brighter/warmer ~1000 years ago during the Medieval Warming Period when Greenland's climate (along with Europe) was much warmer, and that the sun is shining brighter/warmer today as well?

"We can't even talk about half the things on the news or we will fight."

I feel your pain, lol. My daughter (late 20's) is a barking moonbat. She seriously believes that Al Gore is some kinda of environmental messiah whom the evil brainwashed "red thinkers" are trying to crucify.

I mentioned to her that he has leased his family farm in Tennesse out to be strip mined for zinc. She refused to beleive it! It's all Fox News slander and libel!!!!! How about his jetting all over in his own private jet? And the big SUV's that he and his entourage use? Untrue! Untrue!!! More evil lies and slander from the evil brainwashed zombies and neocons!!!!

And my daughter is not stupid. Just desperate for all the liberal crap she hears and sees at the university she goes to (UNLV) to be true.

And my daughter is not stupid. Just desperate for all the liberal crap she hears and sees at the university she goes to (UNLV) to be true.

So far my kids haven't switched to the dark side. That will be hard to deal with if it happens. But you just brought up something I was saying to a friend about Universities. I hate them because they are cesspools of liberalism. The point I made to my friend is that every dollar people send to universities validates their liberalism. It's a shame that so many conservatives send their kids to universities.

I don't think that halogens are considered a danger anymore, not since ozone has been declared a polutant. Ozone was listed on the EPA web site as being the most plentiful polutant in Seattle. Phoenix also has high ozone days. I don't get it, maybe the ozone from the whole in the ozone layer is hanging around the cities. But then I also thought that ozone was extremely unstable and disipated quickly, all by itself.

No, halogens were eliminated from spray cans, refrigeration units and air conditioners, making them much more expensive, because halogens were thought to be responsible for causing a reduction or hole in the ozone layer.

Now that they have found that not to be true, they have declared ozone a polutant, which I can't understand since ozone is only charged oxygen.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.