ctr for the study of science CATO
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">how did i miss this?</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>shut down may 2019</b>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">{{<b>PAT MICHAELS:</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CATO HAD NO JUICE W/ TRUMP Admin?</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see TURNING PT FORK DECISION</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lancaster revelle, zuck</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">~ Mann hockey stick, ~ Hansen, models</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">covid BS</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Cato shut its sci shop </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(lindzen)</span></b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">one of few hacks w/ legit creds, but gov asked him to stop calling himself delaware state climatologist?</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">pal of Happer}}</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CPP</font></p><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">August 3, 2015</font></span></p><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">IER</span> President Thomas Pyle issued the following <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160521194514/http://americanenergyalliance.org/2015/08/03/obamas-carbon-rule-still-a-bad-deal-for-americans/" target="blank" rel="noopener external noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; box-shadow: none;">statement criticizing President Obama’s Clean Power Plan</a>:</b> <a href="https://www.desmog.com/institute-energy-research/#s50" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; box-shadow: none;">[50]</a></font></p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative; margin-top: 10px;"><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 35px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="box-sizing: border-box;">“</span>The final version of President Obama’s ‘Clean Power Plan’ is somehow more harmful than the proposed rule. It forces states to make even steeper cuts, it guts natural gas in favor of costly renewables, and it still has no effect on climate change. While the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span> touts these adjustments to the rule as a sign of ‘flexibility’, it’s really an admission that Obama needs states to do his dirty work. But state leaders shouldn’t give in to the administration’s bribery schemes. Regardless of these cosmetic changes to the rule, the fundamental flaws remain.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 35px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span class="dquo" style="box-sizing: border-box;">“</span>It’s important to remember that President Obama’s carbon regulation, the crown jewel of his climate legacy, has no impact on climate change.</b> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span>’s own models [note triple faced BS] show that their <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">carbon rule will limit global temperature rise by a mere </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">0.018 degrees</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Celsius by 2100.</span> That’s a bad deal for the American people. State leaders should protect their citizens from Obama’s costly carbon rule by refusing to submit a plan.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 35px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[[<span open="open" sans="sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px">The study, conducted by an international team led by researchers at University of Leeds, says that even if lockdown measures continue until the end of 2021—more than a year and a half in total—the planet may only cool by about 0.018 degrees Fahrenheit by 2030.]]</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 35px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span open="open" sans="sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px">{{</span><a href="https://www.heritage.org/environment/report/the-many-problems-the-epas-clean-power-plan-and-climate-regulations-primer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.heritage.org/environment/report/the-many-problems-the-epas-clean-power-plan-and-climate-regulations-primer</a></font></p></blockquote><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></blockquote><h3 gotham="gotham" a="a" b="b" font-weight="font-weight" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Climate and Environmental Benefits: None</font></strong></h3><p gotham="gotham" a="a" b="b" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The trade-off that Americans receive for higher electricity rates, unemployment, and lower levels of prosperity is not an appealing one. Even though electricity generation accounts for the single-largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, the estimated reduction is minuscule compared to global greenhouse gas emissions. Using the “Model for the Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Induced Climate Change,” <b>developed with support from the EPA,</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">climatologists Paul Knappenberger and Patrick Michaels estimate that the climate regulations will avert a meager –</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b>0.018 degree</b> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Celsius (C) of warming by the year 2100<b>.</b></span><a name="ftnref14" href="https://www.heritage.org/environment/report/the-many-problems-the-epas-clean-power-plan-and-climate-regulations-primer#ftn14" id="ftnref14" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;"><b>[14</b>]</a></font></p><p gotham="gotham" a="a" b="b" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In fact, the U.S. could cut its CO2 emissions 100 percent and it would not make a difference in global warming...</font></p><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.heritage.org/environment/report/the-many-problems-the-epas-clean-power-plan-and-climate-regulations-primer#ftnref13" name="ftn13" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">[13]</a> Kevin D. Dayaratna, Nicolas Loris, and David W. Kreutzer, “The Obama Administration’s Climate Agenda Will Hit Manufacturing Hard: A State-by-State Analysis,” Heritage Foundation <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">Backgrounder</i> No. 2990, February 17, 2015, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2015/02/the-obama-administrations-climate-agenda-will-hit-manufacturing-hard-a-state-by-state-analysis.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.heritage.org/environment/report/the-many-problems-the-epas-clean-power-plan-and-climate-regulations-primer#ftnref14" name="ftn14" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">[14<b>]</b></a><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> Paul C. Knappenberger and Patrick J. Michaels,</span> “0.02°C Temperature Rise Averted: The Vital Number Missing from the EPA’s ‘By the Numbers’ Fact Sheet,” <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Cato at Liberty blog</span>, June 11, 2014,</b> http://www.cato.org/blog/002degc-temperature-rise-averted-vital-number-missing-epas-numbers-fact-sheet (accessed May 26, 2015).</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.heritage.org/environment/report/the-many-problems-the-epas-clean-power-plan-and-climate-regulations-primer#ftnref15" name="ftn15" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">[15]</a><b> Paul C. Knappenberger and Patrick J. Michaels,</b> “Current Wisdom: We Calculate, You Decide: A Handy-Dandy Carbon Tax Temperature-Savings Calculator,” Cato at Liberty blog, July 23, 2013, http://www.cato.org/blog/current-wisdom-we-calculate-you-decide-handy-dandy-carbon-tax-temperature-savings-calculator (accessed May 26, 2015).</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.heritage.org/environment/report/the-many-problems-the-epas-clean-power-plan-and-climate-regulations-primer#ftnref16" name="ftn16" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s;">[16]</a> Judith A. Curry, “Statement to the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the United States Senate,” January 16, 2014, http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=07472bb4-3eeb-42da-a49d-964165860275 (accessed May 26, 2015).</font></p></div><p gotham="gotham" a="a" b="b" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">}}</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/us-think-tank-shuts-down-prominent-center-challenged-climate-science"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.sciencemag.org/news/<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">2019/05</span>/us-think-tank-shuts-down-prominent-center-challenged-climate-science</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="articlebody" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 699px; min-width: 0px; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 30px 0px 15px; width: 699px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); padding-top: 30px;"><a href="https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2019/05/29/stories/1060419123" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="">E&E News</font></span></span></a></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., quietly shut down a program that for years sought to raise uncertainty about climate science, leaving the libertarian think tank co-founded by Charles Koch without an office dedicated to global warming.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The move came after Pat Michaels, a climate scientist who rejects mainstream researchers’ concerns about rising temperatures, left Cato earlier this year amid disagreements with officials in the organization.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“They informed me that<b> they didn’t think their vision of a think tank was in the science business,</b> and so I said, ‘OK, bye,’” Michaels said in an interview yesterday. “There had been some controversy going around the building for some time, so things got to a situation where they didn’t work out.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A spokeswoman said</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> C<b>ato’s shuttering of the Center for the Study of Science</b></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b> does not represent a shift in the institute’s position on human-caused climate change. But the think tank moved decisively to close down the science wing that was overseen by Michaels. Ryan Maue, a meteorologist and former adjunct scholar, also left the center.</b></span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“While it is true that, with the departure of Pat Michaels, we have deactivated our Center for the Study of Science, we continue to work on science policy issues,” Khristine Brookes, the spokeswomen, wrote in an email. She didn’t mention climate change.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Michaels is among a small number of academics with legitimate climate science credentials who downplay the human contribution to rising temperatures. </b>He is a frequent guest on Fox News and other conservative outlets, and he has spent years attacking efforts to address climate change. He was influential in the administration of President George H.W. Bush, and he helped turn the GOP away from climate policy at a time when conservatives were embracing it (<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060108785/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Climatewire</span></a>, Dec. 5, 2018). That shift has endured.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Cato also is no longer affiliated with Richard Lindzen, </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">an emeritus professor of meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has long been critical of established climate science. Lindzen was a distinguished fellow at the think tank.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> It’s unclear when he left Cato,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> and Brookes declined to comment on personnel issues.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Maue, who worked with Michaels, said other think tanks cultivated closer relationships with the Trump White House.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“In terms of climate change and regulation, Cato was not a big player at all in the Trump administration,” he said.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Michaels was not asked to take part in the White House plan for an “adversarial” review of climate science related to the National Climate Assessment. </b>Michaels has been critical of government climate reports for decades and has published research in major scientific journals. Both of those are seen as attributes by recruiters in charge of finding experts for the White House panel.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Michaels has spent years attacking climate modeling</b>, which he claims ran hot, despite evidence from NASA that contradicted his claims and demonstrated that models were largely accurate. He has also portrayed academic researchers in climate-related fields as beholden to funding that incentivizes them to produce alarming research. The Cato Institute has received millions of dollars from the Koch network, the Mercer Family Foundation, Exxon Mobil Corp. and other foundations that oppose regulations.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Maue said the Niskanen Center, which was founded by Cato alumnus Jerry Taylor, has attracted conservative followers with its middle-of-the-road climate polic</b>y. That’s appealing to businesses that help fund think tanks and to those that might support policy positions on climate in the post-Trump era, he said.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“That’s attractive to business and politicians who don’t really want to see the climate flame wars continuing on,” Maue said in an interview. “I think many businesses have taken an approach to what’s going to happen and, assuming Trump isn’t around in 2021, what’s coming down the pike.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Still, Maue said that one of Michaels’ lasting contributions in the climate policy debate was to create a position where one can accept that humans are affecting the climate but not as much as the vast majority of scientists claim.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <b>It’s now a de facto position for many Republican lawmakers who acknowledge that humans are contributing to climate change but don’t want to restrict fossil fuel use.</b></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Where Pat’s influence is is in the term ‘</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">lukewarming,’</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">” Maue said. “Lukewarming is not climate denial; it’s just that he’s taking, and most of us on this side of the issue believe in lower climate sensitivity. We don’t believe there’s going to be 5 degrees of warming; we figure it’s at the lower end of 1.5 degrees.”</span></b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The vast majority of climate scientists believe that the world could warm 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels within the next two decades and accelerate through the end of the century, with some estimates placing warming above 5°C.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from E&E News. Copyright 2019. E&E provides essential news for energy and environment professionals at </span><a href="http://www.eenews.net/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">www.eenews.net</span></span></a></font></p></div><footer class="articlefoot" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 699px; min-width: 0px; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="meta-line" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.1; margin: 15px 0px 0.5em; width: 699px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Posted in: </font><ul class="list-comma" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><li style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 7.5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/category/climate" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700;">Climate</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 7.5px;"><a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/category/scientific-community" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700;">Scientific Community</a></li></ul></div><p class="doi-line" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; width: 699px; line-height: 1.1;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">doi:10.1126/science.aay2108</font></p><div class="authorcard " style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: horizontal; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); border-top: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); display: flex; flex-flow: row wrap; margin-top: 15px; min-height: 1px; min-width: 0px; padding: 15px 0px; width: 699px;"><div class="authoricon" style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-box-flex: 0; flex: 0 0 7rem; line-height: 1; margin-right: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div class="authorcardbody" style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-box-flex: 1; flex: 1 1 1px;"><h3 class="authorname" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 7.5px;"><a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/author/scott-waldman-ee-news" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Scott Waldman, E&E News</font></a></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px 0px; width: 557px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Before science reporter Scott Waldman joined </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">ClimateWire</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> in 2016, he covered state energy policy at </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Politico New York</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> and has worked for the Albany </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Times Union</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">, </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Erie Times-News</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> and </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Baltimore Sun</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">. His work also has appeared in </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Scientific American</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">.</span></font></p></div></div></footer></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-international-hotel-will-host-a-climate-denial-conference-5cf2c28b695d/">https://thinkprogress.org/trump-international-hotel-will-host-a-climate-denial-conference-5cf2c28b695d/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In late July, climate science deniers will descend upon the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. — located right across the street from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — to attend the Heartland Institute’s annual climate conference. The theme this year is “Best Science, Winning Energy Policies.</span>”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The conference will feature “the courageous men and women who spoke the truth about climate change during the height of the global warming scare,” as the event’s own description puts it. “Now, many of them are advising the new administration or joining it in senior positions.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fringe climate science deniers have surrounded and infiltrated the administration since President Donald Trump was elected — from working on Trump’s transition team, to meetings with top EPA officials. Trump himself has said climate change is a Chinese hoax, tweeted repeatedly that winter snowstorms disprove global warming, and said that climate scientists have a political agenda. And many top government officials in this administration deny the science on climate change.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When Trump announced in June 2016 that the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate deal, representatives from longtime anti-climate action groups like <b>Koch-funded think tanks</b> the American Energy Alliance, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the Heritage Foundation were all present in the Rose Garden.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Many of these same think tanks will be attending Heartland‘s conference next month, where speakers will offer up policy ideas “to lead a post-alarmist world in climate realism” as well as discussing “the benefits of ending the Democrats’ war on fossil fuels.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This denialism is in stark contrast to the reality facing the world. Scientists have long established that climate change is real, is the result of burning fossil fuels, and that its impacts are visible here and now — from more intense hurricanes and wildfires to both increased drought and rainfall depending on the region. The very first line of the government’s own National Climate Assessment released last fall states, “The impacts of climate change are already being felt in communities across the country.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite the scientific consensus, the Trump administration has been taking aggressive action to roll back vital environmental protections, often in line with industry demands. Supporting the coal industry, in particular, has been a top priority for the administration.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Trump International Hotel isn’t just a top choice for climate deniers: Last year, two executives from coal companies close with the administration — Murray Energy and Craft Alliance Partners — were “VIP” guests of the downtown D.C. hotel. Last June, the hotel hosted a reception for industry trade group the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The hotel — referred to by one Department of Energy staffer as “Republican Disneyland” — has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from oil, coal, natural gas, and mining interests who come to attend events frequented by administration officials. Last March, the Independent Petroleum Association of America’s (IPAA) annual “Congressional Call-Up” was held at Trump’s hotel.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oil and gas lobbyists gather at Trump Hotel for annual D.C. meeting</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This is at least the third energy industry group to choose the Trump International Hotel.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Meanwhile, Trump has refused to sever ties with the Trump Organization, which holds the lease for the Old Post Office building where the hotel is located. </b>Prosecutors for lawsuits in New York, Maryland, and D.C. argue Trump is illegally profiting off of his presidency; the more guests and events at the hotel, the more the president profits.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But while the fossil fuel industry, and the climate deniers who have received fossil fuel funding over the years, flock to the hotel, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are increasingly starting to recognize the importance of tackling the climate crisis.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For the first time, climate change is a leading issue in the 2020 presidential campaign, and a growing number of Democratic candidates are offering up climate policy proposals. Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) recently told reporters that the Republican Party needs its own climate plan.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the same time, coal continues to be on the decline no matter what the administration does to help the industry. More coal plants shut down during Trump’s first two years than during President Barack Obama’s entire first term.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>More coal plants shut down in Trump’s first two years than in Obama’s entire first term</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The administration's own data reveal coal isn't coming back.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Heartland’s conference comes as the head of the group, former Republican Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp, abruptly stepped down last week, just two years after taking the position, while offering no explanation. The think tank has in recent years faced funding uncertainties, with even ExxonMobil no longer donating to the organization. As head of Heartland, Heulskamp focused on energy policy and promoting coal at the state level as opposed to vocal attacks on climate science as his predecessor Joseph Bast did.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The news of Huelskamp leaving his post comes shortly after another Koch-funded libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, quietly announced it was disbanding its climate denial program, the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> Center for the Study of Science.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> </span>A Cato spokesperson at the time, however, said this didn’t change the organization’s stance on human-caused climate change.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Cato Institute: Three Op-Eds.</b> The Wall Street Journal published three climate- or energy-related op-eds by members of the Cato Institute, which was co-founded by the oil billionaire Koch brothers and has received millions of dollars from the Koch family. One of the op-eds falsely attacked attorneys general investigations of Exxon, and the other two op-eds promoted climate science denial. In an August 21 op-ed, Cato's Elizabeth Price Foley wrongly claimed that a group of attorneys general, who have committed to holding fossil fuel companies -- including Exxon -- accountable if they obfuscated climate change research in order to protect their financial interests, had pledged to take action against "climate wrongthink." A March 4, 2015, op-ed by<b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Cato</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">'s Richard Lindzen</span> questioned “the popular alarm over allegedly man-made global warming,” and criticized world leaders for “demonizing carbon dioxide.” </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And a January 24 piece by <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Cato's <b>Patrick Michaels,</b> titled “The Climate Snow Job,</span>” was critiqued by Climate Feedback, an organization that publishes scientists’ assessments of the accuracy of news articles and opinion pieces. Ten scientists analyzed the op-ed and in their summary wrote, “Most of the article is devoted to casting doubt over the accuracy of the global temperature record. The author uses detailed technical descriptions to distract readers from the inaccuracies of the article, which involve cherry-picking data to support multiple unsubstantiated and discredited claims.” They rated its scientific credibility to be “low" to "very low.” [Media Matters, Frequent Misinformers Spreadsheet, Climate Denial/Misinformation Spreadsheet, 7/31/15; Florida International University Law School, accessed9/1/16; InsideClimate News, 3/30/16; Climate Feedback, 1/24/16]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Competitive Enterprise Institute: Two Op-Eds. Representatives of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which has recently received attention for having peddled climate science denial while receiving funding from Exxon, authored two op-eds during the time period examined in this study, both of which falsely claimed that the Exxon investigations are an attempt to criminalize free speech. In The Washington Post, CEI general counsel Sam Kazman and president Kent Lassman co-authored an op-ed describing the attorneys general investigations of Exxon as an attempt to criminalize “dissent” and “run roughshod” over First Amendment protections. And David B. Rivkin Jr. and Andrew Grossman -- the lawyers that represented CEI in its response to an Exxon-related subpoena from the attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands -- wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal alleging that the attorneys general investigations of Exxon are part of a strategy of “punishing dissent from an asserted ‘consensus’ view” on climate change. [Media Matters, Frequent Misinformers Spreadsheet, 4/11/16, 6/27/16; CEI.org, 4/20/16]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Center for Constitutional Studies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Center for Educational Freedom</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Center for Representative Government</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Troubled Currencies Project<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Center for the Study of Science</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Downsizing the Federal Government</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Project on Criminal Justice</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Project on Social Security Choice</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Center for the Study of Science</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Federal government involvement in science, particularly physical science, grew during World War II through the Office of Scientific Research and Development, created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. After the war the OSRD ended; but Vannevar Bush, who oversaw the Manhattan Project and the OSRD, strongly advocated the creation of a peacetime agency to fund and promote scientific R&D, as well as to h<b>eavily involve the federal government in research and educational funding for science activities in academia. </b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">T<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">he result was the establishment of the National Science Foundation, which was soon followed by the development of scientific programs in several cabinet departments. <b>The ensuing government presence creates the potential for politicization by officials with policy goals</b>. The Center for the Study of Science, established by the Cato Institute in 2012, is dedicated to exploring this process. The Cato Institute, which does not accept government funding, has the independence to shine light on this little-studied issue.</span></font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Affiliated Scholars:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Patrick J. Michaels, Director, Center for the Study of Science</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Paul C. "Chip" Knappenberger, Assistant Director, Center for the Study of Science</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Richard Lindzen, Distinguished Senior Fellow</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Edward Calabrese, Adjunct Scholar</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Terence Kealey, Adjunct Scholar</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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