brookings institution

Thu, 2012-05-17 14:19Steve Horn

New Shill Gas Study Published by SUNY Buffalo Institute With Heavy Industry Ties

When does a study on the unconventional shale gas industry become a "shill gas study"? The quick answer: when nearly everyone writing and peer reviewing it has close ties to the industry they're purportedly doing an "objective" study on.

The newest kid on the block: a recent study published by SUNY Buffalo's Shale Resources and Society Institute, titled, "Environmental Impacts During Shale Gas Drilling: Causes, Impacts and Remedies."

The four co-authors of the "study" all have backgrounds, directly or indirectly, in the oil and gas industry:

Timothy Considine and Robert Watson: A professor emeritus at University of Wyoming and a professor at Pennsylvania State University respectively, Considine and Watson co-authored a Marcellus Shale Coalition "jobs" study often cited by the industry and mainstream press titled, "The Economic Impacts of the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Play," published in May 2010. The Marcellus Shale Coalition is a gas industry lobbying group representing nearly all of the corporations fracking for gas in the Marcellus. That "jobs" data was used in a July 2011 New York fracking jobs "study" shown to be farcical by Food and Water Watch in a November 2011 report, as covered by DeSmogBlog.
Nicholas Considine: Head of the University of Wyoming's Center for Energy Economics and Public Policy. He co-authored, along with his brother Timothy and Robert Watson, a Manhattan Institute-commissioned paper published in June 2011 titled, "The Economic Opportunities of Shale Energy Development." The Institute is heavily funded by the oil and gas industry.
John Martin: Martin is a Consultant at JPMartin Energy Strategy LLC. According to his biography appearing on the JPMartin website, he has spent decades working in various sectors of the oil and gas industry, during which he also was responsible for overseeing the research and writing of the first examination of "the natural gas potential of New York's Utica Shale that helped stimulate significant industry investment in this resource." Martin also serves as co-director of the recently created SUNY Buffalo's Shale Resources and Society Institute, which published this "study."

Wed, 2012-02-29 04:39Chris Mooney

New Data: 81 Percent of Climate Deniers Think Scientists Are In It “For Their Own Interests"

The Brookings Institution has a new report out on the public's views about global warming, and most commentators are going for the predictable headline. It's this: Following the post-ClimateGate decline in belief that global warming is happening, we're now seeing a bit of a rebound. More people believe the planet is warming than they did in early 2010—probably in part due to warm weather.

That is good news—not great news by any means, but surely something. People certainly seem remarkably fickle and malleable on this topic, but then, they always are in polls.

To me, though, what you’ve just read is not really the headline. I dug into the Brookings data, and found something much juicier (and newer).

In the poll, 42 percent of Republicans say there isn’t solid evidence that the Earth is warming, and another 11 percent say they are unsure. In contrast, only 15 % of Democrats are out and out deniers. (Note: People were not being asked whether humans are causing global warming, which would have made these numbers much worse.)

And here’s the thing: Of the deniers--Democrat or Republican, but mostly Republican--81 percent also think that “scientists are overstating evidence about global warming for their own interests.” That's a finding I've never seen before--and a very disturbing one.

Gregg Easterbrook

Gregg E. Easterbrook

Credentials

Master's Degree in journalism, Northwestern University (1977). [1]
Bachelor's degree in political science, Colorado College (1976). [2]

Background

Gregg Easterbrook is a writer, lecturer, and a senior editor of The New Republic. He was a fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C. think tank. Gregg Easterbrook is no longer a skeptic of man-made climate change.

Tags:

climate change denier

global warming research

climate misinformation

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