Big Oil Finds Science an Uncertain Ally Against Climatologists; Turns to Intimidation

[wtmusic]

The Kochs and the oil industry have their dirty fingerprints all over the "American Tradition Institute".

"This week, in a courtroom in Prince William County, Virginia, a hearing will take place that could have implications for the privacy rights of scientists at colleges and universities across the country.

It's part of a lawsuit brought by the American Tradition Institute, a free-market think tank that wants the public to believe human-caused global warming is a scientific fraud. Filed against the University of Virginia, the suit seeks emails and other documents related to former professor Michael Mann, an award-winning climate scientist who has become a focus of the climate-denial movement because of his research documenting the recent spike in earth's temperature.

By suing the university, the American Tradition Institute wants to make public Mann’s correspondence in an effort to find out whether he manipulated data to receive government grants, a violation of the state’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act.

But a Facing South investigation has found that the Colorado-based American Tradition Institute is part of a broader network of groups with close ties to energy interests that have long fought greenhouse gas regulation. Our investigation also finds that ATI has connections with the Koch brothers, Art Pope and other conservative donors seeking to expand their political influence."

http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/10/special-investigation-whos-behind-the-information-attacks-on-climate-scientists.html

[Marazinia]

1. Do we get to see their emails, too?

I want to see all the correspondence of these big energy groups that fund climate change 'skeptics', after that, they're welcome to see whatever emails they want as far as I'm concerned.

[mrdmk]

2. On one hand, you have an industry that makes 10's to 100's of billions of dollars in profit a year

vs. a professor that makes 0.0001% of that. Who can out last who when it comes to legal fees?

Follow the money...