GCST exxon

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<a href="http://studylib.net/doc/8847837/smoke--mirrors-and-hot-air---union-of-concerned-scientists">http://studylib.net/doc/8847837/smoke--mirrors-and-hot-air---union-of-concerned-scientists</a>

Union of Concerned Scientists

January 2007

How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco’s Tactics&nbsp;
to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science
<b>
Smoke, Mirrors&nbsp;
& Hot Air</b>
...
</font><div data-canvas-width="28.640243464052293" style="left: 343.174px; top: 500.316px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.14561);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">man</font></div><div data-canvas-width="16.376375816993466" style="left: 371.814px; top: 500.316px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.02352);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">UF</font></div><div data-canvas-width="17.505781045751636" style="left: 387.515px; top: 500.316px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.3466);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ac</font></div><div data-canvas-width="16.597346405228762" style="left: 405.021px; top: 500.316px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.03733);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">TU</font></div><div data-canvas-width="30.899053921568633" style="left: 421.619px; top: 500.316px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.47138);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ring</font></div><div data-canvas-width="12.509390522875819" style="left: 452.518px; top: 500.316px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.04245);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> U</font></div><div data-canvas-width="35.01156209150327" style="left: 465.027px; top: 500.316px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.45882);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ncer</font></div><div style="left: 499.818px; top: 500.316px; font-size: 12.2761px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">T</font></div><div data-canvas-width="21.127243464052288" style="left: 506.41px; top: 500.316px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.24278);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ain</font></div><div data-canvas-width="15.688911764705882" style="left: 527.537px; top: 500.316px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.12064);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">TY</font></div><div data-canvas-width="242.10341176470595" style="left: 343.174px; top: 516.744px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.973998);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By 1997, scientific understanding that human-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="232.80925490196083" style="left: 343.174px; top: 533.485px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.942166);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">caused emissions of heat-trapping gases were </font></div><div data-canvas-width="245.43805882352945" style="left: 343.174px; top: 550.225px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960055);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">causing global warming led to the Kyoto Proto-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="254.85274509803924" style="left: 343.174px; top: 566.965px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.963284);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">col, in which the majority of the world’s industri-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="255.62949019607848" style="left: 343.174px; top: 583.705px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.971852);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">alized nations committed to begin reducing their </font></div><div data-canvas-width="257.98650980392154" style="left: 343.174px; top: 600.445px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.926953);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">global warming emissions on a specified timetable. </font></div><div data-canvas-width="250.70117647058822" style="left: 343.174px; top: 617.186px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.969393);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In response to both the strength of the scientific </font></div><div data-canvas-width="252.33501960784318" style="left: 343.174px; top: 633.926px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960544);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">evidence on global warming and the governmen-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.84864705882353" style="left: 343.174px; top: 650.666px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.961275);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tal action pledged to address it, leading oil com-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="259.24537254901946" style="left: 343.174px; top: 667.406px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.92461);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">panies such as British Petroleum, Shell, and Texaco </font></div><div data-canvas-width="228.34966666666676" style="left: 343.174px; top: 684.146px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960529);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">changed their stance on climate science and </font></div><div data-canvas-width="44.90390196078432" style="left: 343.174px; top: 700.887px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.989073);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">abandon</font></div><div data-canvas-width="12.119901960784313" style="left: 388.078px; top: 700.887px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.958095);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ed</font></div><div data-canvas-width="158.72384313725493" style="left: 400.198px; top: 700.887px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.980786);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> the Global Climate Coalition.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 558.919px; top: 701.548px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">30</font></div><div data-canvas-width="19.31149019607843" style="left: 359.911px; top: 717.627px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.894741);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exx</font></div><div data-canvas-width="166.2770196078431" style="left: 379.143px; top: 717.627px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.968604);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">onMobil chose a different path. </font></div><div data-canvas-width="56.046176470588236" style="left: 359.911px; top: 734.367px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.997263);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In 1998, E</font></div><div data-canvas-width="170.1339607843137" style="left: 415.877px; top: 734.367px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.950646);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">xxonMobil helped create a small </font></div><div data-canvas-width="260.3970980392156" style="left: 343.171px; top: 751.107px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.923394);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">task force calling itself the “Global Climate Science </font></div><div data-canvas-width="258.18739215686276" style="left: 343.171px; top: 767.847px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.935688);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Team” (GCST). Members included Randy Randol, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="33.69466666666667" style="left: 146.387px; top: 194.529px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(1.00832);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Victor</font></div><div style="left: 180.459px; top: 194.529px; font-size: 13.3922px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">y</font></div><div data-canvas-width="20.74445098039216" style="left: 189.365px; top: 194.529px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.995734);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">will</font></div><div data-canvas-width="12.227039215686274" style="left: 213.324px; top: 194.529px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.966564);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">be</font></div><div data-canvas-width="34.337490196078434" style="left: 228.765px; top: 194.529px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.982006);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">achiev</font></div><div data-canvas-width="12.441313725490197" style="left: 263.022px; top: 194.529px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.983503);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ed</font></div><div data-canvas-width="28.726176470588243" style="left: 278.677px; top: 194.529px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.989421);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">when</font></div><div data-canvas-width="12.923431372549022" style="left: 310.618px; top: 194.529px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(1.02162);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">av</font></div><div data-canvas-width="28.230666666666668" style="left: 323.461px; top: 194.529px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.972912);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">erage</font></div><div data-canvas-width="23.57019607843137" style="left: 354.906px; top: 194.529px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(1.02257);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">citiz</font></div><div data-canvas-width="16.99464705882353" style="left: 378.395px; top: 194.529px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.951193);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ens</font></div><div style="left: 398.604px; top: 194.529px; font-size: 13.3922px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“</font></div><div data-canvas-width="68.34017647058823" style="left: 404.229px; top: 194.529px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(1.05545);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">understand”</font></div><div data-canvas-width="59.07280392156864" style="left: 146.377px; top: 214.613px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.968142);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">(recognize)</font></div><div data-canvas-width="30.319843137254907" style="left: 208.664px; top: 214.613px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(1.01858);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">uncer</font></div><div data-canvas-width="40.63180392156863" style="left: 239.091px; top: 214.613px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(1.05037);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tainties</font></div><div data-canvas-width="11.42350980392157" style="left: 282.937px; top: 214.613px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(1.09666);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">in</font></div><div data-canvas-width="39.694352941176476" style="left: 297.574px; top: 214.613px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(1.00704);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">climate</font></div><div data-canvas-width="40.13629411764706" style="left: 340.483px; top: 214.613px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.938129);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">science.</font></div><div style="left: 169.54px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">—</font></div><div data-canvas-width="51.48837908496733" style="left: 179.486px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.854343);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">I N T E R N A L</font></div><div data-canvas-width="14.374248366013072" style="left: 235.117px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.919462);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">M E</font></div><div data-canvas-width="16.25807843137255" style="left: 250.509px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.97744);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">M O</font></div><div style="left: 270.909px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">B</font></div><div data-canvas-width="8.312065359477124" style="left: 277.329px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.930455);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">y </font></div><div style="left: 286.194px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">T</font></div><div style="left: 293.105px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">h</font></div><div style="left: 301.319px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">E</font></div><div data-canvas-width="8.74954248366013" style="left: 307.488px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.801485);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> A</font></div><div data-canvas-width="14.374248366013072" style="left: 317.255px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.919462);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">M E</font></div><div data-canvas-width="31.614418300653593" style="left: 332.647px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.860647);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">R I C A N</font></div><div data-canvas-width="8.088862745098039" style="left: 365.217px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.857477);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> P</font></div><div data-canvas-width="12.124366013071896" style="left: 374.216px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.923175);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">E T</font></div><div data-canvas-width="42.57813071895425" style="left: 387.359px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.871015);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">R O L E U M</font></div><div data-canvas-width="6.205032679738562" style="left: 430.892px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.834758);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> I</font></div><div data-canvas-width="12.374352941176472" style="left: 438.115px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.906546);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">N S</font></div><div data-canvas-width="37.65874509803922" style="left: 451.507px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.888527);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">T I T U T E</font></div><div data-canvas-width="5.356862745098039" style="left: 490.121px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.799532);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="20.53464052287582" style="left: 496.371px; top: 238.487px; font-size: 8.9281px; transform: scaleX(0.835874);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">1 9 9 8</font></div><div data-canvas-width="11.16013071895425" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 36.6387px; font-size: 11.1601px; transform: scaleX(0.600545);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> 0</font></div><div style="left: 97.6996px; top: 31.9916px; font-size: 20.0882px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">l</font></div><div data-canvas-width="111.06785294117648" style="left: 103.264px; top: 37.6621px; font-size: 10.0441px; transform: scaleX(0.902257);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Union of Concerned Scientists

</font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.2193725490196" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 118.701px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.952556);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ExxonMobil’s senior environmental lobbyist at </font></div><div data-canvas-width="257.27672549019604" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 135.441px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.966237);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">the time, and Joe Walker, the public relations rep-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.60758823529414" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 152.181px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.961707);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">resentative of the American Petroleum Institute.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 327.957px; top: 152.843px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">31</font></div><div data-canvas-width="236.67958823529412" style="left: 80.3493px; top: 168.922px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.970993);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">One member of the <b>GCST task force, Steven </b></font></div><div data-canvas-width="261.44168627450983" style="left: 80.3493px; top: 185.662px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.9639);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Milloy, </b>headed a nonprofit organization called the </font></div><div data-canvas-width="257.07584313725494" style="left: 80.3493px; top: 202.402px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960852);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Advancement of Sound Science Coalition, which </font></div><div data-canvas-width="251.63862745098035" style="left: 80.3493px; top: 219.142px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.959354);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">had been covertly created by the tobacco compa-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="248.772705882353" style="left: 80.3493px; top: 235.882px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.979806);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ny Philip Morris in 1993 to manufacture uncer-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="251.2502549019608" style="left: 80.3493px; top: 252.622px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.965976);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tainty about the health hazards posed by second-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="65.98315686274509" style="left: 80.3493px; top: 269.363px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.974161);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">hand smoke.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 146.335px; top: 270.024px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">32</font></div><div data-canvas-width="231.05488235294118" style="left: 97.0924px; top: 286.103px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.976219);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">A 1998 GCST task force memo outlined an </font></div><div data-canvas-width="241.4471960784314" style="left: 80.3522px; top: 302.843px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.951516);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">explicit strategy to invest millions of dollars to </font></div><div data-canvas-width="243.2819215686274" style="left: 80.3522px; top: 319.583px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.965788);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">manufacture uncertainty on the issue of global </font></div><div data-canvas-width="45.68064705882353" style="left: 80.3522px; top: 336.323px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.959006);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">warming</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 126.033px; top: 336.985px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">33</font></div><div data-canvas-width="190.91858823529412" style="left: 133.84px; top: 336.323px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.961);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">—a strategy that directly emulated </font></div><div data-canvas-width="252.17431372549018" style="left: 80.3521px; top: 353.064px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.949869);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Big Tobacco’s disinformation campaign. Despite </font></div><div data-canvas-width="251.49131372549036" style="left: 80.3521px; top: 369.804px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.957454);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">mounting scientific evidence of the changing cli-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="252.95105882352948" style="left: 80.3521px; top: 386.544px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.968481);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">mate, the goal the team outlined was simple and </font></div><div data-canvas-width="238.5277058823529" style="left: 80.3521px; top: 403.284px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.964333);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">familiar. As the memo put it, “Victory will be </font></div><div data-canvas-width="258.749862745098" style="left: 80.3521px; top: 420.024px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.946127);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">achieved when average citizens understand (recog-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="251.14311764705883" style="left: 80.3521px; top: 436.765px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.957526);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">nize) uncertainties in climate science” and when </font></div><div data-canvas-width="250.66100000000003" style="left: 80.3521px; top: 453.505px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.965194);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">public “recognition of uncertainty becomes part </font></div><div data-canvas-width="158.85776470588232" style="left: 80.3521px; top: 470.245px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.948688);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">of the ‘conventional wisdom.’”</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 239.208px; top: 470.906px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">34</font></div><div data-canvas-width="77.74147058823529" style="left: 247.016px; top: 470.245px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.949611);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> (For full text </font></div><div data-canvas-width="161.71029411764704" style="left: 80.3505px; top: 486.985px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.963517);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">of the memo, see Appendix C.)</font></div><div data-canvas-width="236.35817647058835" style="left: 105.57px; top: 503.725px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.949547);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Regardless of the mounting scientific evidence, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="260.2363921568628" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 520.466px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.983633);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">the 1998 GCST memo contended that “if we can </font></div><div data-canvas-width="238.3268235294118" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 537.206px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967366);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">show that science does not support the Kyoto </font></div><div data-canvas-width="250.11192156862745" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 553.946px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.987479);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">treaty...this puts the United States in a stronger </font></div><div data-canvas-width="252.2010980392157" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 570.686px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.965486);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">moral position and frees its negotiators from the </font></div><div data-canvas-width="237.89827450980397" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 587.426px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.94573);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">need to make concessions as a defense against </font></div><div data-canvas-width="192.9408039215687" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 604.167px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.936);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">perceived selfish economic concerns.”</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 273.291px; top: 604.828px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">35</font></div><div data-canvas-width="237.08135294117648" style="left: 97.0931px; top: 620.907px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.981162);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ExxonMobil and its partners no doubt under-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="240.59009803921575" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 637.647px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.959418);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">stood that, with the scientific evidence against </font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.33974509803932" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 654.387px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.973268);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">them, they would not be able to influence repu-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.56756862745104" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 671.127px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.969416);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">table scientists. The 1998 memo proposed that </font></div><div data-canvas-width="234.01454901960784" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 687.868px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.964544);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ExxonMobil and its public relations partners </font></div><div data-canvas-width="241.98288235294126" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 704.608px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.962222);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“develop and implement a national media rela-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="250.04496078431382" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 721.348px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.982045);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tions program to inform the media about uncer-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="139.23825490196083" style="left: 80.3529px; top: 738.088px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.94527);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tainties in climate science.”</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 219.589px; top: 738.75px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">36</font></div><div data-canvas-width="90.24974509803921" style="left: 227.396px; top: 738.088px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.974093);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> In the years that </font></div><div data-canvas-width="242.5587450980392" style="left: 80.3505px; top: 754.828px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.946078);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">followed, ExxonMobil executed the strategy as </font></div><div data-canvas-width="255.32147058823523" style="left: 80.3505px; top: 771.569px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.944644);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">planned underwriting a wide array of front organi-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="228.89874509803923" style="left: 80.3505px; top: 788.309px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.953745);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">zations to publish in-house articles by select </font></div><div data-canvas-width="242.4248235294118" style="left: 363.26px; top: 117.964px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.96667);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">scientists and other like-minded individuals to </font></div><div data-canvas-width="249.80390196078434" style="left: 363.26px; top: 134.705px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.951151);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">raise objections about legitimate climate science </font></div><div data-canvas-width="250.76813725490194" style="left: 363.26px; top: 151.445px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.953129);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">research that has withstood rigorous peer review </font></div><div data-canvas-width="252.92427450980398" style="left: 363.26px; top: 168.185px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.975349);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">and has been replicated in multiple independent </font></div><div data-canvas-width="253.20550980392156" style="left: 363.26px; top: 184.925px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960689);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">peer-reviewed studies—in other words, to attack </font></div><div data-canvas-width="257.2767254901961" style="left: 363.26px; top: 201.665px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.949769);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">research findings that were well established in the </font></div><div data-canvas-width="251.3573921568627" style="left: 363.26px; top: 218.406px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.95999);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">scientific community. The network ExxonMobil </font></div><div data-canvas-width="225.6310588235294" style="left: 363.26px; top: 235.146px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.944656);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">created masqueraded as a credible scientific </font></div><div data-canvas-width="246.44247058823532" style="left: 363.26px; top: 251.886px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.961414);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">alternative, but it publicized discredited studies </font></div><div data-canvas-width="239.74639215686275" style="left: 363.26px; top: 268.626px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.971813);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">and cherry-picked information to present mis-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="107.3783137254902" style="left: 363.26px; top: 285.366px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.952358);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">leading conclusions. </font></div><div data-canvas-width="57.955674836601304" style="left: 363.262px; top: 319.152px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.25991);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">inForma</font></div><div data-canvas-width="118.42795915032684" style="left: 420.31px; top: 319.152px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.24661);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Tion LaUndering

</font></div><div data-canvas-width="237.29562745098036" style="left: 363.262px; top: 335.581px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.929174);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">A close review reveals the company’s effort at </font></div><div data-canvas-width="256.7410392156863" style="left: 363.262px; top: 352.321px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.958406);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">what some have called “information laundering”: </font></div><div data-canvas-width="261.2809803921569" style="left: 363.262px; top: 369.061px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.951439);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">projecting the company’s desired message through </font></div><div data-canvas-width="250.66100000000006" style="left: 363.262px; top: 385.801px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.970175);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ostensibly independent nonprofit organizations. </font></div><div data-canvas-width="246.49603921568624" style="left: 363.262px; top: 402.541px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.950316);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">First, ExxonMobil underwrites well-established </font></div><div data-canvas-width="257.55796078431376" style="left: 363.262px; top: 419.282px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.963975);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">groups such as the American Enterprise Institute, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="236.4920980392157" style="left: 363.262px; top: 436.022px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.98245);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the </font></div><div data-canvas-width="240.7374117647059" style="left: 363.262px; top: 452.762px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.974448);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Cato Institute that actively oppose mandatory </font></div><div data-canvas-width="248.67896078431374" style="left: 363.262px; top: 469.502px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.95609);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">action on global warming as well as many other </font></div><div data-canvas-width="130.37264705882353" style="left: 363.262px; top: 486.242px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967874);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">environmental standards.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="124.88186274509803" style="left: 495.585px; top: 486.242px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.96063);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But the funding doesn’t </font></div><div data-canvas-width="252.50911764705882" style="left: 363.257px; top: 502.983px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967901);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">stop there. ExxonMobil also supports a number </font></div><div data-canvas-width="259.15162745098047" style="left: 363.257px; top: 519.723px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.965123);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">of lesser-known organizations that help to market </font></div><div data-canvas-width="242.7194509803922" style="left: 363.257px; top: 536.463px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.970684);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">and distribute global warming disinformation. </font></div><div data-canvas-width="251.50470588235297" style="left: 363.257px; top: 553.203px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.954537);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Few of these are household names. For instance, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.0720588235294" style="left: 363.257px; top: 569.943px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967516);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">most people are probably not familiar with the </font></div><div data-canvas-width="254.65186274509804" style="left: 363.257px; top: 586.683px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.974931);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">American Council for Capital Formation Center </font></div><div data-canvas-width="234.73772549019614" style="left: 363.257px; top: 603.424px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.934652);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">for Policy Research, the American Legislative </font></div><div data-canvas-width="237.48311764705892" style="left: 363.257px; top: 620.164px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.977431);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exchange Council, the Committee for a Con-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="246.26837254901963" style="left: 363.257px; top: 636.904px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.964623);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">structive Tomorrow, or the International Policy </font></div><div data-canvas-width="142.46576470588235" style="left: 373.347px; top: 653.644px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.962823);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Network, to name just a few. </font></div><div data-canvas-width="97.19357843137254" style="left: 515.611px; top: 653.644px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.962789);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">yet these organiza-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="262.2050392156863" style="left: 363.262px; top: 670.384px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.962691);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tions—and many others like them—have received </font></div><div data-canvas-width="233.76009803921568" style="left: 363.262px; top: 687.125px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960526);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">sizable donations from ExxonMobil for their </font></div><div data-canvas-width="128.21650980392158" style="left: 363.262px; top: 703.865px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.944389);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">climate change activities.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="9.759534313725492" style="left: 491.477px; top: 704.526px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">37 </font></div><div data-canvas-width="241.88913725490207" style="left: 380.002px; top: 720.605px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.970208);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Between 1998 and 2005 (the most recent year </font></div><div data-canvas-width="259.24537254901963" style="left: 363.262px; top: 737.345px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.944084);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">for which company figures are publicly available), </font></div><div data-canvas-width="258.7364705882353" style="left: 363.262px; top: 754.085px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.961726);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ExxonMobil has funneled approximately $16 mil-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="260.0221176470587" style="left: 363.262px; top: 770.826px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.941427);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">lion to carefully chosen organizations that promote </font></div><div data-canvas-width="180.75394117647062" style="left: 363.262px; top: 787.566px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967633);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">disinformation on global warming.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 544.013px; top: 788.227px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">38</font></div><div data-canvas-width="39.02474509803921" style="left: 551.821px; top: 787.566px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.944528);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> As the </font></div><div data-canvas-width="26.275411764705886" style="left: 590.845px; top: 787.566px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.916584);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">New </font></div><div style="left: 587.924px; top: 32.1614px; font-size: 20.0882px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">l</font></div><div data-canvas-width="13.95016339869281" style="left: 590.371px; top: 36.8085px; font-size: 11.1601px; transform: scaleX(0.484381);"> </div><div data-canvas-width="57.988039215686285" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 117.957px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.879717);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">York Times </font></div><div data-canvas-width="199.30207843137256" style="left: 118.811px; top: 117.957px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.964987);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">has reported, ExxonMobil is often the </font></div><div data-canvas-width="245.03629411764715" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 134.697px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960864);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">single largest corporate donor to many of these </font></div><div data-canvas-width="262.2853921568627" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 151.437px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.966476);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">nonprofit organizations, frequently accounting for </font></div><div data-canvas-width="232.38070588235288" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 168.177px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.954924);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">more than 10 percent of their annual budgets.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.729551176470589" style="left: 293.067px; top: 168.839px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(0.990968);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">39</font></div><div data-canvas-width="254.79917647058826" style="left: 60.822px; top: 184.918px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960359);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">(For more detailed information, see Appendix B, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="49.10903921568627" style="left: 60.822px; top: 201.658px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967031);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Table 1.) </font></div><div data-canvas-width="118.29292156862748" style="left: 77.5622px; top: 218.398px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.948874);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">A close look at the wor</font></div><div data-canvas-width="124.8684705882353" style="left: 195.775px; top: 218.398px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.955139);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">k of these organizations </font></div><div data-canvas-width="262.2452156862744" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 235.138px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.915874);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">exposes ExxonMobil’s strategy. Virtually all of them </font></div><div data-canvas-width="254.59829411764704" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 251.878px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.963718);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">publish and publicize the work of a nearly identi-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="241.13917647058827" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 268.619px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.951552);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">cal group of spokespeople, including scientists </font></div><div data-canvas-width="254.39741176470585" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 285.359px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.949185);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">who misrepresent peer-reviewed climate findings </font></div><div data-canvas-width="253.07158823529414" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 302.099px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.95921);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">and confuse the public’s understanding of global </font></div><div data-canvas-width="261.9907647058824" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 318.839px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.957452);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">warming. Most of these organizations also include </font></div><div data-canvas-width="229.1665882352941" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 335.579px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.954794);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">these same individuals as board members or </font></div><div data-canvas-width="95.25841176470591" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 352.32px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.924241);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">scientific advisers. </font></div><div data-canvas-width="169.2634705882353" style="left: 149.948px; top: 369.06px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.975957);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Why would ExxonMobil opt to fund so many </font></div><div data-canvas-width="250.2324509803922" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 385.8px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.956424);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">groups with overlapping spokespeople and prog-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="246.17462745098038" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 402.54px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.941875);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">rams? By generously funding a web of organiza-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="231.24237254901965" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 419.28px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.970859);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tions with redundant personnel, advisors, or </font></div><div data-canvas-width="252.7367843137255" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 436.021px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.949484);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">spokespeople, ExxonMobil can quietly and effec-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="257.47760784313726" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 452.761px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.958472);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tively provide the appearance of a broad platform </font></div><div data-canvas-width="237.65721568627453" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 469.501px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.956239);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">for a tight-knit group of vocal climate science </font></div><div data-canvas-width="249.69676470588232" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 486.241px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.955472);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">contrarians. The seeming diversity of the organi-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="251.11633333333333" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 502.981px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.94934);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">zations creates an “echo chamber” that amplifies </font></div><div data-canvas-width="262.05772549019616" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 519.722px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.962092);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">and sustains scientific disinformation even though </font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.9023725490196" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 536.462px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.952495);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">many of the assertions have been repeatedly de-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="189.1642156862745" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 553.202px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.968996);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">bunked by the scientific community.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="232.2735686274509" style="left: 84.9286px; top: 569.942px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.947153);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Take, for example, ExxonMobil’s funding of a </font></div><div data-canvas-width="254.53133333333344" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 586.682px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.969643);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Washington, DC-based organization called <b>Fron-</b></font></div><div data-canvas-width="87.57131372549021" style="left: 60.8227px; top: 603.423px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.952725);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>tiers of Freedom.</b></font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 148.393px; top: 604.084px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">40</font></div><div data-canvas-width="161.1478235294117" style="left: 156.2px; top: 603.423px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.9665);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> Begun in 1996 by former Sen-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="251.0627647058824" style="left: 60.8213px; top: 620.163px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.956855);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ator Malcolm Wallop, Frontiers of Freedom was </font></div><div data-canvas-width="253.75458823529414" style="left: 60.8213px; top: 636.903px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.9812);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">founded to promote property rights and critique </font></div><div data-canvas-width="245.04968627450978" style="left: 60.8213px; top: 653.643px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.96432);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">environmental regulations like the Endangered </font></div><div data-canvas-width="61.09501960784314" style="left: 60.8213px; top: 670.383px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.912093);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Species Act.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 121.917px; top: 671.045px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">41</font></div><div data-canvas-width="181.08874509803923" style="left: 129.725px; top: 670.383px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.955361);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> One of the group’s staff members, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="257.11601960784316" style="left: 60.822px; top: 687.124px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.958375);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">an economist named <b>Myron Ebell, later served as </b></font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.8888235294118" style="left: 60.822px; top: 703.864px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.962177);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>a member of the Global Climate Science Team, </b></font></div><div data-canvas-width="243.5497647058823" style="left: 60.822px; top: 720.604px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.954162);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">the small task force that laid out ExxonMobil’s </font></div><div data-canvas-width="242.19715686274517" style="left: 60.822px; top: 737.344px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.950103);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">1998 message strategy on global warming. Fol-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="256.1651764705881" style="left: 60.822px; top: 754.084px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.936619);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">lowing the outline of the task force’s plan in 1998, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="252.4153725490195" style="left: 60.822px; top: 770.825px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.939395);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ExxonMobil began funding Frontiers of Freedom </font></div><div data-canvas-width="228.93892156862742" style="left: 60.822px; top: 787.565px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.972209);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">—a group that Vice President Dick Cheney </font></div><div data-canvas-width="254.79917647058832" style="left: 343.169px; top: 301.724px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.952639);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">recently called “an active, intelligent, and needed </font></div><div data-canvas-width="167.75015686274517" style="left: 343.169px; top: 318.464px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.961411);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">presence in the national debate.”</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 510.922px; top: 319.129px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">42</font></div><div data-canvas-width="236.7733333333333" style="left: 359.912px; top: 335.207px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.969786);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Since 1998, ExxonMobil has spent $857,000 </font></div><div data-canvas-width="252.2948431372549" style="left: 343.172px; top: 351.948px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.956326);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">to underwrite the Frontiers of Freedom’s climate </font></div><div data-canvas-width="71.59447058823528" style="left: 343.172px; top: 368.688px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.94162);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">change efforts</font></div><div style="left: 414.766px; top: 368.688px; font-size: 13.3922px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 418.116px; top: 369.349px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">43</font></div><div data-canvas-width="155.95166666666665" style="left: 425.923px; top: 368.688px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.963358);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> In 2002, for example, Exxon-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="245.59876470588242" style="left: 343.173px; top: 385.428px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.96629);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mobil made a grant to Frontiers of Freedom of </font></div><div data-canvas-width="50.220588235294116" style="left: 343.173px; top: 402.168px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.999415);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">$232,000</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 393.395px; top: 402.83px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">44</font></div><div data-canvas-width="186.5527450980392" style="left: 401.202px; top: 402.168px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.95261);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> (nearly a third of the organization’s </font></div><div data-canvas-width="245.89339215686277" style="left: 343.174px; top: 418.908px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.97609);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">annual budget) to help launch a new branch of </font></div><div data-canvas-width="238.62145098039224" style="left: 343.174px; top: 435.649px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.962571);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">the organization called the Center for Science </font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.00494117647062" style="left: 343.174px; top: 452.389px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.954117);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">and Public Policy, which would focus primarily </font></div><div data-canvas-width="100.37421568627451" style="left: 343.174px; top: 469.129px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.963592);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">on climate change. </font></div><div data-canvas-width="202.9983137254902" style="left: 375.918px; top: 485.869px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.945057);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">A recent visit to the organization’s website </font></div><div data-canvas-width="252.8573137254902" style="left: 343.174px; top: 502.609px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.977793);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">finds little information about the background or </font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.3934705882353" style="left: 343.174px; top: 519.349px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960163);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">work of the Center for Science and Public Poli-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="13.432333333333336" style="left: 343.174px; top: 536.09px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.887599);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">cy.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 356.606px; top: 536.751px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">45</font></div><div data-canvas-width="231.09505882352946" style="left: 364.414px; top: 536.09px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.954412);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> The website offers no mention of its staff or </font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.29956862745104" style="left: 343.174px; top: 552.83px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967463);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">board members other than its current executive </font></div><div data-canvas-width="250.01817647058826" style="left: 343.174px; top: 569.57px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.965694);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">director Robert Ferguson, for whom it offers no </font></div><div data-canvas-width="257.544568627451" style="left: 343.174px; top: 586.31px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.963925);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">biographical information. As of September 2006, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.9559411764706" style="left: 343.174px; top: 603.05px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.958857);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">however, the website did prominently feature a </font></div><div data-canvas-width="262.0979019607844" style="left: 343.174px; top: 619.791px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.961298);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">38-page non-peer-reviewed report by Ferguson on </font></div><div data-canvas-width="255.14737254901976" style="left: 343.174px; top: 636.531px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.949798);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">climate science, heavily laden with maps, graphs, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="44.71641176470588" style="left: 343.174px; top: 653.271px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.977052);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">and char</font></div><div data-canvas-width="205.91780392156863" style="left: 387.998px; top: 653.271px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.969177);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ts, entitled “Issues in the Current State </font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.84880392156862" style="left: 343.174px; top: 670.011px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.948108);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">of Climate Science: A Guide for Policy Makers </font></div><div data-canvas-width="117.73045098039218" style="left: 343.174px; top: 686.751px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967515);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">and Opinion Leaders.”</font></div><div data-canvas-width="9.759534313725492" style="left: 460.903px; top: 687.413px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> 46</font></div><div data-canvas-width="122.29717647058824" style="left: 470.662px; top: 686.751px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960072);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> The document offers a </font></div><div data-canvas-width="261.2006274509804" style="left: 343.169px; top: 703.492px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.966753);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">hodgepodge of distortions and distractions posing </font></div><div data-canvas-width="250.2860196078432" style="left: 343.169px; top: 720.232px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.938045);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">as a serious scientific review. Ferguson questions </font></div><div data-canvas-width="242.13019607843137" style="left: 343.169px; top: 736.972px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.969879);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">the clear data showing that the majority of the </font></div><div data-canvas-width="262.35235294117643" style="left: 343.169px; top: 753.712px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.93977);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">globe’s glaciers are in retreat by feebly arguing that </font></div><div data-canvas-width="256.56694117647055" style="left: 343.169px; top: 770.452px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.956447);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">not all glaciers have been inventoried, despite the </font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.07205882352946" style="left: 343.169px; top: 787.193px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.958837);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">monitoring of thousands of glaciers worldwide.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 587.242px; top: 787.854px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">47</font></div><div data-canvas-width="206.68115686274513" style="left: 376.814px; top: 124.758px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.16113);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The network ExxonMobil created </font></div><div data-canvas-width="208.7681013071896" style="left: 376.814px; top: 149.863px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.10459);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">masqueraded as a credible scien-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="204.65559313725495" style="left: 376.814px; top: 174.967px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.20386);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tific alternative, but it publicized </font></div><div data-canvas-width="193.30016013071904" style="left: 376.814px; top: 200.072px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.14379);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">discredited studies and cherry-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="186.91656535947715" style="left: 376.814px; top: 225.177px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.15381);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">picked information to present </font></div><div data-canvas-width="152.13825" style="left: 376.814px; top: 250.282px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.10245);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">misleading conclusions. </font></div><div data-canvas-width="11.16013071895425" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 36.6387px; font-size: 11.1601px; transform: scaleX(0.429236);"> </div><div data-canvas-width="233.63956862745104" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 117.957px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.970533);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">And, in an attempt to dispute solid scientific </font></div><div data-canvas-width="257.66509803921565" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 134.697px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.92964);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">evidence that climate change is causing extinctions </font></div><div data-canvas-width="250.13870588235298" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 151.437px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.951158);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">of animal species, Ferguson offers the non sequi-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="237.00099999999998" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 168.177px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.953471);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tur that several new butterfly and frog species </font></div><div data-canvas-width="210.6988039215686" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 184.918px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.950021);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">were recently discovered in New Guinea.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 291.607px; top: 185.579px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">48</font></div><div data-canvas-width="121.76149019607844" style="left: 221.07px; top: 201.658px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.915615);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Perhaps most notable are Ferguson’s references, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="255.48217647058829" style="left: 80.9079px; top: 218.398px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.949924);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">citing a familiar collection of climate science con-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.07190196078426" style="left: 80.9079px; top: 235.138px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.957272);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">trarians such as Willie Soon (see p. 30 for more </font></div><div data-canvas-width="248.22362745098042" style="left: 80.9079px; top: 251.878px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.972409);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">on Soon). In fact, although his title is not listed </font></div><div data-canvas-width="103.11960784313726" style="left: 80.9079px; top: 268.619px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.957916);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">on the organization’</font></div><div data-canvas-width="138.80970588235294" style="left: 182.959px; top: 268.619px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.956319);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">s website, Soon is the Cen-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="106.26676470588235" style="left: 223.189px; top: 285.359px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.901075);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ter for Science and Public Policy’s “chief science </font></div><div data-canvas-width="29.101156862745103" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 302.099px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.909411);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">resear</font></div><div data-canvas-width="202.06086274509806" style="left: 109.932px; top: 302.099px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.956879);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">cher,” according to a biographical note </font></div><div data-canvas-width="116.95370588235295" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 318.839px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967092);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">accompanying a 2005 </font></div><div data-canvas-width="90.28992156862746" style="left: 197.865px; top: 318.839px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.91541);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Wall Street Journa</font></div><div data-canvas-width="39.70774509803921" style="left: 288.155px; top: 318.839px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.970059);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">l op-ed </font></div><div data-canvas-width="184.45017647058822" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 335.579px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967311);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">co-authored by Ferguson and Soon.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 265.359px; top: 336.241px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">49</font></div><div data-canvas-width="59.327254901960785" style="left: 273.166px; top: 335.579px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.908998);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> Ferguson’s </font></div><div data-canvas-width="238.1795098039216" style="left: 80.9086px; top: 352.32px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.963055);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">report was not subject to peer review, but it is </font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.46027450980398" style="left: 80.9086px; top: 369.06px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.962381);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">nonetheless presented under the auspices of the </font></div><div data-canvas-width="242.71945098039222" style="left: 80.9086px; top: 385.8px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.969262);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">authoritative-sounding Center for Science and </font></div><div data-canvas-width="69.27762745098039" style="left: 80.9086px; top: 402.54px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.932404);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Public Policy.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="226.4345882352942" style="left: 97.6511px; top: 419.28px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.972657);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Another organization used to launder infor-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="252.72339215686273" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 436.021px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.981959);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">mation is the George C. Marshall Institute. Dur-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="242.5855294117647" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 452.761px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.977379);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ing the 1990s, the Marshall Institute had been </font></div><div data-canvas-width="249.84407843137254" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 469.501px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.956402);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">known primarily for its work advocating a “Star </font></div><div data-canvas-width="25.860254901960783" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 486.241px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.950745);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Wars</font></div><div data-canvas-width="138.83649019607844" style="left: 106.236px; top: 486.241px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.944573);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">” missile defense program. </font></div><div style="left: 245.072px; top: 486.241px; font-size: 13.3922px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">h</font></div><div data-canvas-width="15.186705882352943" style="left: 255.625px; top: 486.241px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.926961);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ow</font></div><div data-canvas-width="65.27337254901961" style="left: 270.731px; top: 486.241px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.950352);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ever, it soon </font></div><div data-canvas-width="259.0846666666667" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 502.981px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.975225);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">became an important home for industry-financed </font></div><div data-canvas-width="241.01864705882355" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 519.722px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.962535);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“climate contrarians,” thanks in part to Exxon-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="237.2286666666666" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 536.462px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.947273);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mobil’s financial backing. Since 1998, Exxon-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="259.74088235294124" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 553.202px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.977572);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mobil has paid $630,000 primarily to underwrite </font></div><div data-canvas-width="232.60837254901958" style="left: 80.9109px; top: 569.942px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.95403);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">the Marshall Institute’s climate change effort.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 313.516px; top: 570.604px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">50</font></div><div data-canvas-width="258.16060784313726" style="left: 80.9077px; top: 586.682px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.972295);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>William O’Keefe, CEO of the Marshall Institute, </b></font></div><div data-canvas-width="249.348568627451" style="left: 80.9077px; top: 603.423px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.945158);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">formerly worked as executive vice president and </font></div><div data-canvas-width="259.03109803921575" style="left: 80.9077px; top: 620.163px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.953255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">chief operating officer of the American Petroleum </font></div><div data-canvas-width="250.54047058823528" style="left: 80.9077px; top: 636.903px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.970147);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Institute, served on the board of directors of the </font></div><div data-canvas-width="260.169431372549" style="left: 80.9077px; top: 653.643px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.97527);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Competitive Enterprise Institute, and is chairman </font></div><div data-canvas-width="216.79223529411766" style="left: 80.9077px; top: 670.383px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.97442);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">emeritus of the Global Climate Coalition.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 297.7px; top: 671.045px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">51</font></div><div data-canvas-width="205.4356862745098" style="left: 136.257px; top: 687.124px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.964487);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Since ExxonMobil began to support its efforts, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="237.04117647058825" style="left: 80.9077px; top: 703.864px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.952228);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">the Marshall Institute has served as a clearing-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="261.0533137254902" style="left: 80.9077px; top: 720.604px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.964958);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">house for global warming contrarians, conducting </font></div><div data-canvas-width="256.4464117647059" style="left: 80.9077px; top: 737.344px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.974773);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">round-table events and producing frequent publi-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="254.3706274509804" style="left: 80.9077px; top: 754.084px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.964621);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">cations. Most recently, the Marshall Institute has </font></div><div data-canvas-width="141.75598039215689" style="left: 80.9077px; top: 770.825px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.976729);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">been touting its new book, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="105.32931372549021" style="left: 222.664px; top: 770.825px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.889982);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Shattered Consensus: </font></div><div data-canvas-width="172.41062745098043" style="left: 80.9077px; top: 787.565px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.908859);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The True State of Global Warming,</font></div><div data-canvas-width="81.4243137254902" style="left: 253.318px; top: 787.565px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.963982);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> edited by long-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="225.9524705882353" style="left: 363.255px; top: 118.707px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.961023);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">time climate contrarian Patrick Michaels (a </font></div><div data-canvas-width="259.95515686274507" style="left: 363.255px; top: 135.447px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.945349);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">meteorologist). Michaels has, over the past several </font></div><div data-canvas-width="189.1374313725491" style="left: 363.255px; top: 152.187px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.947899);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">years, been affiliated with at least ten</font></div><div data-canvas-width="47.55554901960784" style="left: 555.74px; top: 152.187px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.944499);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">organiza-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="152.61701960784316" style="left: 363.255px; top: 168.927px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967155);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tions funded by ExxonMobil.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 515.877px; top: 169.583px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">52</font></div><div data-canvas-width="88.4685882352941" style="left: 523.685px; top: 168.921px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(1.00305);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> Contributors to </font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.3933137254903" style="left: 363.26px; top: 185.662px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960378);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">the book include others with similar affiliations </font></div><div data-canvas-width="258.7632549019607" style="left: 363.26px; top: 202.402px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.930859);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">with Exxon-funded groups: Sallie Baliunas, Robert </font></div><div data-canvas-width="259.58017647058824" style="left: 363.26px; top: 219.142px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.95786);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Balling, John Christy, Ross McKitrick, and Willie </font></div><div data-canvas-width="26.436117647058822" style="left: 363.26px; top: 235.882px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.959569);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Soon</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 389.698px; top: 236.544px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">53</font></div><div data-canvas-width="196.95845098039214" style="left: 397.506px; top: 235.882px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.946006);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> (for details, see Appendix B, Table 2).</font></div><div data-canvas-width="212.9888627450981" style="left: 380.002px; top: 252.622px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.973515);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The pattern of information laundering is </font></div><div data-canvas-width="235.17966666666666" style="left: 363.262px; top: 269.363px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.963654);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">repeated at virtually all the private, nonprofit </font></div><div data-canvas-width="258.3347058823529" style="left: 363.262px; top: 286.103px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.957564);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">climate change programs ExxonMobil funds. The </font></div><div data-canvas-width="153.78213725490198" style="left: 363.262px; top: 302.843px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.952211);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">website of the Chicago-based </font></div><div data-canvas-width="45.98866666666667" style="left: 577.256px; top: 302.843px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.996864);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">heartland Institute, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="243.67029411764705" style="left: 363.262px; top: 319.583px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.966243);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">which received $119,000 from ExxonMobil in </font></div><div data-canvas-width="30.13235294117647" style="left: 363.262px; top: 336.323px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.999415);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">2005,</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 393.395px; top: 336.985px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">54</font></div><div data-canvas-width="203.9223725490196" style="left: 401.202px; top: 336.323px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.944377);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> offers recent articles by the same set of </font></div><div data-canvas-width="235.8894509803923" style="left: 363.262px; top: 353.064px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.954825);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">scientists. A visit to the climate section of the </font></div><div data-canvas-width="237.67060784313725" style="left: 363.262px; top: 369.804px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.936633);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">website of the American Legislative Exchange </font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.4602745098039" style="left: 363.262px; top: 386.544px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.965134);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Council, which received $241,500 from Exxon-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="79.14764705882354" style="left: 363.262px; top: 403.284px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.989139);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mobil in 2005,</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 442.409px; top: 403.946px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">55</font></div><div data-canvas-width="163.0495098039216" style="left: 450.217px; top: 403.284px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.986187);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> turns up yet another non-peer-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="185.17335294117646" style="left: 363.262px; top: 420.024px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.94428);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">reviewed paper by Patrick Michaels.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 548.433px; top: 420.686px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">56</font></div><div data-canvas-width="56.91666666666667" style="left: 556.24px; top: 420.024px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.980477);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> The Com-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="227.73362745098035" style="left: 363.259px; top: 436.765px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.968187);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">mittee for a Constructive Tomorrow, which </font></div><div data-canvas-width="239.82674509803917" style="left: 363.259px; top: 453.505px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.96046);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">received $215,000 from ExxonMobil over the </font></div><div data-canvas-width="220.48847058823532" style="left: 363.259px; top: 470.245px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.968045);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">past two funding cycles of 2004 and 2005,</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 583.748px; top: 470.906px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">57</font></div><div data-canvas-width="250.79492156862747" style="left: 363.26px; top: 486.985px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.948066);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">boasts a similar lineup of articles and a scientific </font></div><div data-canvas-width="260.14264705882346" style="left: 363.26px; top: 503.725px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.92726);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">advisory panel that includes Sallie Baliunas, Robert </font></div><div data-canvas-width="229.9165490196078" style="left: 363.26px; top: 520.466px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.949023);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Balling, Roger Bate, Sherwood Idso, Patrick </font></div><div data-canvas-width="254.33045098039216" style="left: 363.26px; top: 537.206px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.946346);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Michaels, and Frederick Seitz—all affiliated with </font></div><div data-canvas-width="211.60947058823533" style="left: 363.26px; top: 553.946px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.966547);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">other ExxonMobil-funded organizations.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 574.869px; top: 554.607px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">58</font></div><div data-canvas-width="223.76954901960787" style="left: 380.002px; top: 570.686px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.974111);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">A more prominent organization funded by </font></div><div style="left: 363.262px; top: 587.426px; font-size: 13.3922px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">E</font></div><div data-canvas-width="246.50943137254905" style="left: 371.003px; top: 587.426px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.975374);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">xxonMobil is the Washington, DC-based Com-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="245.00950980392156" style="left: 363.262px; top: 604.167px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.978407);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">petitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). Founded in </font></div><div data-canvas-width="257.9999019607843" style="left: 363.262px; top: 620.907px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.968286);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">1984 to fight government regulation on business, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="237.69739215686272" style="left: 363.262px; top: 637.647px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967955);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">CEI started to attract significant ExxonMobil </font></div><div data-canvas-width="240.28207843137253" style="left: 363.262px; top: 654.387px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.968034);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">funding when Myron Ebell moved there from </font></div><div data-canvas-width="245.42466666666664" style="left: 363.262px; top: 671.127px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.972685);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Frontiers of Freedom in 1999. Since then, CEI </font></div><div data-canvas-width="248.8396666666667" style="left: 363.262px; top: 687.867px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.957997);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">has not only produced a steady flow of vitupera-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.5407843137255" style="left: 363.262px; top: 704.608px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.955424);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tive articles and commentaries attacking global </font></div><div data-canvas-width="83.27243137254902" style="left: 363.262px; top: 721.348px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.920985);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">warming science</font></div><div style="left: 446.535px; top: 721.348px; font-size: 13.3922px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">,</font></div><div data-canvas-width="173.9239411764705" style="left: 449.749px; top: 721.348px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.93107);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> often using the same set of global </font></div><div data-canvas-width="106.54800000000002" style="left: 363.262px; top: 738.088px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.96409);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">warming contrarians</font></div><div style="left: 469.81px; top: 738.088px; font-size: 13.3922px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">;</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.5531764705882365" style="left: 476.506px; top: 738.088px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(1.01612);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">it</font></div><div data-canvas-width="112.82892156862746" style="left: 484.06px; top: 738.088px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.950405);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> has also sued the fed-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="243.18817647058825" style="left: 363.262px; top: 754.828px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.966823);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">eral government to stop the dissemination of a </font></div><div data-canvas-width="227.13098039215689" style="left: 363.262px; top: 771.568px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.949941);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">National Assessment Synthesis Team report </font></div><div data-canvas-width="240.34903921568628" style="left: 363.262px; top: 788.309px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.955536);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">extensively documenting the region-by-region </font></div><div data-canvas-width="113.17711764705884" style="left: 474.749px; top: 37.8318px; font-size: 10.0441px; transform: scaleX(0.929841);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Smoke, Mirrors, and Hot Air </font></div><div style="left: 587.924px; top: 32.1614px; font-size: 20.0882px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">l</font></div><div data-canvas-width="13.95016339869281" style="left: 590.371px; top: 36.8085px; font-size: 11.1601px; transform: scaleX(0.484381);"> </div><div data-canvas-width="243.08103921568633" style="left: 60.2647px; top: 117.958px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.963651);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">impacts of climate change in the United States.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 303.342px; top: 118.619px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">59</font></div><div data-canvas-width="253.67423529411752" style="left: 60.2612px; top: 134.698px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.937278);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">For its efforts, CEI has received more than $2 mil-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="237.22866666666667" style="left: 60.2612px; top: 151.438px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.976183);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">lion in funding from ExxonMobil from 1998 </font></div><div data-canvas-width="75.08982352941176" style="left: 60.2612px; top: 168.179px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.998756);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">through 2005.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 135.354px; top: 168.84px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">60</font></div><div data-canvas-width="219.55101960784313" style="left: 77.0049px; top: 184.919px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.949615);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The irony of all these efforts is that Exxon-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="246.4692549019608" style="left: 60.2647px; top: 201.659px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.968508);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mobil, a company that claims it is dedicated to </font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.0720588235294" style="left: 60.2647px; top: 218.399px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.955709);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">supporting organizations favoring “free market </font></div><div data-canvas-width="189.94096078431377" style="left: 60.2647px; top: 235.139px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.957686);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">solutions to public policy problems,”</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 250.203px; top: 235.801px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">61</font></div><div data-canvas-width="56.31401960784314" style="left: 258.01px; top: 235.139px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.917415);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> is actively </font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.50045098039215" style="left: 60.2616px; top: 251.88px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.966736);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">propping up discredited studies and misleading </font></div><div data-canvas-width="256.23213725490206" style="left: 60.2616px; top: 268.62px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.971251);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">information that would otherwise never thrive in </font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.96933333333337" style="left: 60.2616px; top: 285.36px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.947474);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">the scientific marketplace of ideas. The tactic is </font></div><div data-canvas-width="257.1829803921568" style="left: 60.2616px; top: 302.1px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.936516);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">seen clearly in ExxonMobil’s backing of a website </font></div><div data-canvas-width="254.06260784313724" style="left: 60.2616px; top: 318.84px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.957041);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">called Tech Central Station, which portrays itself </font></div><div data-canvas-width="245.6121568627451" style="left: 60.2616px; top: 335.581px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.96933);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">as a media outlet but is, in fact, part of a corpo-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="233.22441176470596" style="left: 60.2616px; top: 352.321px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.968808);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">rate PR machine that helps corporations like </font></div><div data-canvas-width="196.91827450980398" style="left: 60.2616px; top: 369.061px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960421);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ExxonMobil to get their message out. </font></div><div data-canvas-width="234.20203921568628" style="left: 84.2367px; top: 385.801px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.966845);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Tech Central Station </b>(which received $95,000 </font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.96917647058825" style="left: 60.2647px; top: 402.541px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.96844);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">in funding from ExxonMobil in 2003) is a web-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.12562745098043" style="left: 60.2647px; top: 419.282px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.961882);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">based hybrid of quasi-journalism and lobbying </font></div><div data-canvas-width="251.4913137254902" style="left: 60.2647px; top: 436.022px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960135);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">that helps ExxonMobil complete the circle of its </font></div><div data-canvas-width="133.58676470588233" style="left: 60.2647px; top: 452.762px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.970364);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">disinformation campaign.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 193.849px; top: 453.423px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">62</font></div><div data-canvas-width="110.4719019607843" style="left: 201.657px; top: 452.762px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.951524);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> The website is nomi-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="245.15682352941178" style="left: 60.2621px; top: 469.502px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.949239);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">nally “hosted” by James K. Glassman, a former </font></div><div data-canvas-width="52.1758431372549" style="left: 60.2621px; top: 486.242px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967115);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">journalist.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 112.439px; top: 486.904px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">63</font></div><div data-canvas-width="186.57952941176467" style="left: 120.247px; top: 486.242px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.940737);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> But despite Glassman’s public face, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="251.51809803921572" style="left: 60.2636px; top: 502.983px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.966324);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Tech Central Station was published (until it was </font></div><div data-canvas-width="238.25986274509805" style="left: 60.2636px; top: 519.723px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.964289);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">sold in September 2006) by a public relations </font></div><div data-canvas-width="253.36621568627453" style="left: 60.2636px; top: 536.463px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.964409);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">firm called the DCI Group, which is a registered </font></div><div data-canvas-width="142.07739215686274" style="left: 60.2636px; top: 553.203px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.956858);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ExxonMobil lobbying firm.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 202.34px; top: 553.865px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">64</font></div><div data-canvas-width="232.2467843137255" style="left: 77.0032px; top: 569.943px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.959631);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">A Tech Central Station disclaimer states that </font></div><div data-canvas-width="251.86629411764707" style="left: 60.263px; top: 586.683px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.972457);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">the online journal is proud of its corporate spon-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="249.30839215686274" style="left: 60.263px; top: 603.424px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.970953);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">sors (including ExxonMobil) but that “the opin-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="248.17005882352944" style="left: 60.263px; top: 620.164px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.937907);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ions expressed on these pages are solely those of </font></div><div data-canvas-width="258.29452941176487" style="left: 60.263px; top: 636.904px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.961394);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">the writers and not necessarily of any corporation </font></div><div data-canvas-width="117.23494117647057" style="left: 60.263px; top: 653.644px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.965559);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">or other organization.”</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 177.498px; top: 654.306px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">65</font></div><div data-canvas-width="131.79221568627452" style="left: 185.305px; top: 653.644px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.973115);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> In practice, the opposite </font></div><div data-canvas-width="260.26317647058823" style="left: 60.2626px; top: 670.384px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.960144);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">is true. Although Tech Central Station’s content is </font></div><div data-canvas-width="257.69188235294126" style="left: 60.2626px; top: 687.125px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.968463);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">dressed up as independent news articles, the DCI </font></div><div data-canvas-width="245.18360784313728" style="left: 60.2626px; top: 703.865px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.967575);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Group established the outfit to allow corporate </font></div><div data-canvas-width="229.1264117647059" style="left: 60.2626px; top: 720.605px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.968276);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">clients and their surrogates to communicate </font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.58080392156856" style="left: 60.2626px; top: 737.345px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.964225);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">directly to the public. Predictably, Tech Central </font></div><div data-canvas-width="255.1071960784315" style="left: 60.2626px; top: 754.085px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.966926);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Station contributors on the global warming issue </font></div><div data-canvas-width="249.870862745098" style="left: 60.2626px; top: 770.826px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.952494);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">are the familiar spokespeople from ExxonMobil-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="198.73849183006539" style="left: 357.495px; top: 122.153px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.14218);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Although Tech Central Station’s </font></div><div data-canvas-width="187.39533496732028" style="left: 357.495px; top: 147.257px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.12213);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">content is dressed up as inde-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="194.88378267973857" style="left: 357.495px; top: 172.362px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.13967);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">pendent news articles, the DCI </font></div><div data-canvas-width="193.0669133986928" style="left: 357.495px; top: 197.467px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.15609);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Group established the outfit to </font></div><div data-canvas-width="204.64331699346405" style="left: 357.495px; top: 222.572px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.15618);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">allow corporate clients and their </font></div><div data-canvas-width="173.51101633986931" style="left: 357.495px; top: 247.676px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.12669);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">surrogates to communicate </font></div><div data-canvas-width="131.6739183006536" style="left: 357.495px; top: 272.781px; font-size: 12.2761px; transform: scaleX(1.19704);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">directly to the public.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="248.97358823529413" style="left: 343.174px; top: 318.467px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.955447);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">funded organizations, including Sallie Baliunas, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="253.9554705882353" style="left: 343.174px; top: 335.207px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.949248);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Robert Balling, David Legates, Patrick Michaels, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="204.55180392156865" style="left: 343.174px; top: 351.948px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.961089);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Willie Soon, George Taylor, and others.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 547.723px; top: 352.609px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">66</font></div><div data-canvas-width="245.87999999999997" style="left: 359.912px; top: 368.688px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.968667);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">It is also no surprise that the DCI Group’s own </font></div><div data-canvas-width="253.16533333333336" style="left: 343.171px; top: 385.428px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.951749);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">literature boasts that it specializes in what it calls </font></div><div data-canvas-width="259.28554901960786" style="left: 343.171px; top: 402.168px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.951914);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“corporate grassroots campaigns” and “third party </font></div><div data-canvas-width="247.4334901960785" style="left: 343.171px; top: 418.908px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.966411);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">support” for corporate clients, both code words </font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.98272549019612" style="left: 343.171px; top: 435.649px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.964879);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">for the establishment and use of front organiza-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="216.2699411764706" style="left: 343.171px; top: 452.389px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.943518);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">tions to disseminate a company’s message.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 559.441px; top: 453.05px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">67</font></div><div data-canvas-width="26.262019607843133" style="left: 567.248px; top: 452.389px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.953826);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> The </font></div><div data-canvas-width="254.6652549019608" style="left: 343.171px; top: 469.129px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.961727);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">group’s managing partners, Tom Synhorst, Doug </font></div><div style="left: 343.171px; top: 485.869px; font-size: 13.3922px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">G</font></div><div data-canvas-width="105.10164705882353" style="left: 353.098px; top: 485.869px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(1.01124);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">oodyear, and Tim h</font></div><div data-canvas-width="142.88092156862746" style="left: 457.878px; top: 485.869px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.955193);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">yde, each honed their skills </font></div><div data-canvas-width="236.19747058823538" style="left: 343.174px; top: 502.609px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.950302);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">in this area over the course of nearly a decade </font></div><div data-canvas-width="226.71582352941178" style="left: 343.174px; top: 519.349px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.959373);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">working for the tobacco firm R.J. Reynolds.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 569.886px; top: 520.011px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">68</font></div><div data-canvas-width="252.12074509803924" style="left: 343.171px; top: 536.09px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.950144);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Synhorst was a “field coordinator” for R.J. Reyn-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="255.89733333333336" style="left: 343.171px; top: 552.83px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.962985);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">olds, heading up work for the company on issues </font></div><div data-canvas-width="246.71031372549012" style="left: 343.171px; top: 569.57px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.92853);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">such as state, local, and workplace smoking bans.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.729551176470589" style="left: 589.747px; top: 570.232px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(0.990968);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">69</font></div><div data-canvas-width="259.27215686274513" style="left: 343.173px; top: 586.31px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.956959);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Goodyear worked for a PR firm called Walt Klein </font></div><div data-canvas-width="259.9417647058824" style="left: 343.173px; top: 603.05px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.94777);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">and Associates that helped set up a fake grassroots </font></div><div data-canvas-width="192.03013725490186" style="left: 343.173px; top: 619.791px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.934756);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">operations on behalf of R.J. Reynolds.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.729551176470589" style="left: 535.068px; top: 620.452px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(0.990968);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">70</font></div><div data-canvas-width="28.351196078431375" style="left: 542.719px; top: 619.791px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.951915);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> And </font></div><div data-canvas-width="31.741643790849675" style="left: 570.936px; top: 619.791px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(1.07965);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">hyde </font></div><div data-canvas-width="244.25954901960785" style="left: 343.176px; top: 636.531px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.94711);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">served as senior director of public issues at R.J. </font></div><div style="left: 343.176px; top: 653.271px; font-size: 13.3922px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">R</font></div><div data-canvas-width="237.67060784313722" style="left: 351.651px; top: 653.271px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.958929);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">eynolds from 1988 to 1997, overseeing all of </font></div><div data-canvas-width="153.47411764705882" style="left: 343.174px; top: 670.011px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.950304);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">the company’s PR campaigns.</font></div><div data-canvas-width="7.807627450980393" style="left: 496.646px; top: 670.673px; font-size: 7.80763px; transform: scaleX(1.00098);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">71</font></div><div data-canvas-width="218.25198039215692" style="left: 359.912px; top: 686.751px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.979148);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Confounding the matter further is Exxon-</font></div><div data-canvas-width="258.72307843137247" style="left: 343.172px; top: 703.492px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.929488);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mobil’s funding of established research institutions </font></div><div data-canvas-width="245.38449019607862" style="left: 343.172px; top: 720.232px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.962796);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">that seek to better understand science, policies, </font></div><div data-canvas-width="252.6028627450981" style="left: 343.172px; top: 736.972px; font-size: 13.3922px; transform: scaleX(0.956044);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">and technologies to address global warming. For </font></div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">example, ExxonMobil’s corporate citizen re
===
</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">icn road not taken:

</font><h2 class="pane-title"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon Sowed Doubt About Climate Science for Decades by Stressing Uncertainty</font></h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><header class="page-header article-header">

            
        <div class="page-subtitle"><div class="field field-name-field-subtitle field-type-text field-label-hidden">
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          <div class="field-item even"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Collaborating with the Bush-Cheney White House, Exxon turned ordinary scientific uncertainties into weapons of mass confusion.</font></div>
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<div class="entry-meta">

       <h4 class="byline"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By David Hasemyer and John H. Cushman Jr. </font></h4>                 <div class="posted-on"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
          Oct 22, 2015        </font></div>
          </div>

</header><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

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          <p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Credit: Paul Horn/InsideClimate News</font></p>
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<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">

    <div class="field-items">
          <div class="field-item even"><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">As 

he wrapped up nine years as the federal government's chief scientist for

global warming research, Michael MacCracken lashed out at ExxonMobil

for opposing the advance of climate science.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">His own great-grandfather, he told the Exxon board, had been John D.

Rockefeller's legal counsel a century earlier. "What I rather imagine he

would say is that you are on the wrong side of history, and you need to

find a way to change your position," he wrote.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Addressed to chairman <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092015/lee-raymond">Lee Raymond</a> on the letterhead of the United States Global Change Research Program, <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/documents/MacCracken%20Letter%20to%20Exxon%20%282002%29.pdf">his September 2002 letter</a> was not just forceful, but unusually personal.</font>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">No wonder: in the opening days of the oil-friendly Bush-Cheney

administration, Exxon's chief lobbyist had written the new head of the

White House environmental council demanding that <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092015/mike-maccracken">MacCracken</a> be fired for "political and scientific bias."</font></span>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon was also attacking other officials in the U.S. government and

at the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), MacCracken

wrote, interfering with their work behind the scenes and distorting it

in public.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon wanted scientists who disputed the mainstream science on

climate change to oversee Washington's work with the IPCC, the

authoritative body that defines the scientific consensus on global

warming, documents written by an Exxon lobbyist and one of its

scientists show. The company persuaded the White House to block the

reappointment of the IPCC chairman, a World Bank scientist. Exxon's top

climate researcher, <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092015/brian-flannery">Brian Flannery</a>,

was pushing the White House for a wholesale revision of federal climate

science. The company wanted a new strategy to focus on the

uncertainties.</font></p><div class="media media-element-container media-image_left_medium"><figure id="file-266440" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg with-caption">

<div class="content">

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          <p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Michael MacCracken (Credit: Michael MacCracken)</font></p>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"To call ExxonMobil's position out of the mainstream is thus a gross

understatement," MacCracken wrote. "To be in opposition to the key

scientific findings is rather appalling for such an established and

scientific organization."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">MacCracken had a long history of collaboration with Exxon

researchers. He knew that during the 1970s and 1980s, well before the

general public understood the risks of global warming, the company's

researchers had worked at the cutting edge of climate change science. He

had edited and even co-authored some of their reports. So he found it

galling that Exxon was now leading a concerted effort to sow confusion

about fossil fuels, carbon dioxide and the greenhouse effect.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon had turned a colleague into its enemy.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>It was a vivid example of Exxon's undermining of mainstream science

and embrace of denial and misinformation, which became most pronounced

after President George W. Bush took office</b>. The campaign climaxed when

Bush pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol in 2001. Taking the U.S. out of

the international climate change treaty was Exxon's key goal, and the

reason for its persistent emphasis on the uncertainty of climate

science.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">This <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/content/Exxon-The-Road-Not-Taken">in-depth series by InsideClimate New</a>s

has explored Exxon's early engagement with climate research more than

35 years ago – and its subsequent use of scientific uncertainty as a

shield against forceful action on global warming. The series is based on

Exxon documents, interviews, and other evidence from an eight-month

investigation.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"What happened was an incredible disconnect in people trained in physical science and engineering," recalled <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092015/martin-hoffert">Martin Hoffert</a>,

a New York University professor who collaborated with Exxon's team as

its early computer modeling confirmed the emerging scientific consensus

on global warming. "It's an untold story of how we got to the point

where climate change has become a threat to the world."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>The Uncertainty Agenda</strong></font>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">As the Bush-Cheney administration arrived in the White House in 2001,

ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) now had partners for a climate uncertainty

strategy.</font></span></p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">

</span><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Just weeks after Bush was sworn in, Exxon's top lobbyist Randy Randol <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/documents/Exxon%20Lobbyist%27s%20Memo%20to%20the%20White%20House%20%282001%29.pdf">sent the White House a memo</a>

complaining that "Clinton/Gore carry-overs with aggressive agendas"

were still playing a role at the IPCC as it prepared its next assessment

of the climate science consensus.</font></span></p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">

</span><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">MacCracken and three colleagues should be replaced, or at least kept

out of "any decisional activities," he wrote. Meanwhile, U.S. input to

the IPCC should be delayed.</font></span>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Further, two scientists highly critical of the prevailing consensus

should be enlisted: John Christy of the University of Alabama should

take the science lead and Richard Lindzen of MIT should review U.S.

submissions to the IPCC.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon had been circulating a proposal to fundamentally overhaul

MacCracken's global change research program, by emphasizing the

uncertainties of climate science.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The timing was not coincidental because the administration, as

required by law, was about to lay out a new federal climate research

strategy. Exxon and its allies wanted the work done during the

Clinton-Gore years to be marginalized.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In March 2002, Flannery, Exxon's science strategy and programs

manager, contacted John H. Marburger, the president's incoming assistant

for science and technology, <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/documents/Exxon%20Scientist%20Lobbies%20the%20White%20House%20%282002%29.pdf">to pitch the company's favored approach of emphasizing the uncertainty</a>.

Earlier discussions, he asserted, "have not sought to place the

uncertainty in the context of why it is important to public policy."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon's position paper, attached to his letter, took a dig at the work of the IPCC.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"A major frustration to many is the all-too-apparent bias of IPCC to

downplay the significance of scientific uncertainty and gaps," the memo

said.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>A Seat at the Table</strong></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon had not always been so at odds with the prevailing science.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Since the late 1970s, Exxon scientists had been <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092015/Exxons-own-research-confirmed-fossil-fuels-role-in-global-warming">telling top executives</a>

that the most likely cause of climate change was carbon pollution from

the combustion of fossil fuels, and that it was important to get a grip

on the problem quickly. Exxon Research & Engineering had <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/16092015/exxon-believed-deep-dive-into-climate-research-would-protect-its-business">launched innovative ocean research</a> from aboard the company's biggest supertanker, the Esso Atlantic. ER&E's modeling experts, by the early 1980s, had <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/18092015/exxon-confirmed-global-warming-consensus-in-1982-with-in-house-climate-models">confirmed the consensus</a> among outside scientists about the climate's sensitivity to carbon dioxide.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"The facts are that we identified the potential risks of climate

change and have taken the issue very seriously," said Ken Cohen, Exxon's

vice president of public and government affairs, <a href="http://news.exxonmobil.com/press-release/exxonmobil-says-climate-research-stories-inaccurate-and-deliberately-misleading">in a press release</a> on October 21 addressing the ICN reports. "We embarked on decades of research in collaboration with many parties."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon has declined to answer specific questions from InsideClimate News.</font></p><div class="media media-element-container media-image_full"><figure id="file-266438" class="file file-image file-image-png">

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    <font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/content/exxon-science-vs-misinformation" target="_blank"><img class="media-element file-image-full" src="https://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/styles/icn_full_wrap_wide/public/ExxonQuotesCompared1058px_0.png?itok=XrZ-WkrN" alt="" height="830" width="529" /></a></font>  </div>

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<p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">A <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/documents/PR%20Plan%20for%20Exxon%27s%20CO2%20Research%20%281980%29.pdf">1980 memo proposed an ambitious public-relations plan</a> aimed at "achieving national recognition of our CO₂ Greenhouse research program."</font></span>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"It is significant to Exxon since future public decisions aimed at controlling the build-up of atmospheric CO₂ could impose limits on fossil fuel combustion," said the memo. "It is significant to all humanity since, although the CO_2&nbsp;Greenhouse

Effect is not today widely perceived as a threat, the popular media are

giving increased attention to doom-saying theories about dramatic

climate changes and melting polar icecaps."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Most of all, Exxon wanted a seat at the policy-making table, and the

credibility of its research had earned that. In 1979, David Slade,

manager of carbon dioxide research at the Energy Department, called it

"a model for research contributions from the corporate sector."</font>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Sen. Gary Hart, a Colorado Democrat,</b> invited <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092015/henry-shaw">Henry Shaw</a>,

an early Exxon scientist, to join the policy deliberations. He was the

only industry representative invited to an October 1980 conference of

the National Commission on Air Quality, newly set up by Congress, to

discuss "whether potential consequences of increased carbon dioxide

levels warrant development of policies to mitigate adverse effects."</font></span>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Shaw's bosses agreed that he should attend, "both to be informed as

to what actions or proposals that result and to bring objective thinking

and information to the meeting," <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092015/harold-weinberg">Harold Weinberg</a>,

Shaw's boss in Exxon Research and Engineering, wrote in a memo. But

first, he said, Shaw needed to be briefed by public affairs executives

"on possible hidden agenda and individual biases of which we may not

already be aware."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">When Shaw gave feedback to the commission in December, <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/documents/Exxon%27s%20Policy%20Input%20to%20Congressional%20Commission%20%281980%29.pdf">he noted the uncertainties about carbon dioxide and climate change</a>. At the same time, he wrote that it was "important" to place CO₂

on the nation's public policy agenda, as the commission was

recommending, and supported the panel's suggestion that it was "timely

to consider ways of reducing CO₂ emissions now."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">He also backed a recommendation that the U.S. "seek to develop discussions on national and international policies."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In late spring of 1981, Flannery was one of the few industry

representatives at a large gathering of accomplished scientists at

Harper's Ferry, W. Va., for a Department of Energy "Workshop on First

Detection of Carbon Dioxide Effects." He sat on a panel with NASA's

James Hansen, who was about to publish a landmark study in Science

magazine warning of significant warming even if controls were placed on

carbon emissions.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822016268534;view=1up;seq=14">workshop's proceedings</a>

would declare that "scientists are agreed" that carbon dioxide was

building up in the atmosphere, that the effects "are well known" and

"will bring about an increase in the mean global temperature," and that

it is "commonly accepted" that warming "will affect the biosphere

through a change in climate."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Working with Hoffert, Flannery wrote a highly technical 50-page chapter to a <a href="http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008363809">1985 Energy Department report</a>. Their modeling projected up to 6 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the 21^st century unless emissions of greenhouse gases were curtailed.</font></p><div class="media media-element-container media-image_full"><figure id="file-266424" class="file file-image file-image-png with-caption">

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    <font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><img class="media-element file-image-full" src="https://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/styles/icn_full_wrap_wide/public/DOE%20Report.png?itok=V7Pv1tRY" alt="" height="265" width="529" /></font><figcaption class="field field-name-field-image-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden">

<div class="field-items">

          <p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon researchers contributed key climate modeling to a 

1985 Energy Department study that projected significant global warming,

and said some climate change was already locked in. (Credit: DoE)</font></p>

      </div>

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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The influential government report said the models provided a "firm

basis" for this kind of projection, and that "we are already committed

to some of this warming as a result of emissions over the last several

decades."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Harper's Ferry conference was chaired by MacCracken; he also

edited the warming report. He recalled recently that "the underlying

push was for a level of understanding that was convincing enough to let

policymakers become aware of what the issue was that society faced."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">As Hoffert put it in a recent interview, in those days at Exxon

"there were no divisions, no agendas. We were coming together as

scientists to address issues of vital importance to the world."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Fork in the Road</strong></font>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In 1988, James Hansen told Congress that there was now enough warming

to declare that the greenhouse effect had arrived. Also that year, the

United Nations set up the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.</font></span>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">It was a moment that Exxon's climate experts had been forecasting for

a decade: that as warming became unmistakable, governments would move

to control it.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Looking backward, one Exxon document from the early 1990s reflects a

trail of research into global warming stretching back "long before the

issue achieved its current prominence."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">An internal compendium of the company's environmental record, on file

in the official ExxonMobil historical archives at the University of

Texas-Austin, acknowledged the uncertainties that have always faced

climate researchers, but it didn't downplay the risks.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"Fossil fuel use dominates as the source of man-made emissions of

carbon dioxide," said one section of the encyclopedic review. "Current

scientific understanding demonstrates the potential for climate change

to produce serious impacts."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"For Exxon and the petroleum industry, potential enhancement of the

greenhouse effect and the possibility of adverse climate are of

particular and fundamental concern," it said.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Drilling for Uncertainty</strong></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The IPCC published its first report in 1990. Despite the scientific

gaps, the panel warned that unrestrained emissions from burning fossil

fuels would surely warm the planet in the century ahead. The conclusion,

the IPCC said after intense deliberations, was "certain." It prescribed

deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to stave off a crisis in

the coming decades.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">At this crucial juncture, Exxon pivoted toward uncertainty and away from the global scientific consensus.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">At the IPCC's final session to draft its summary for policymakers,

Exxon's Flannery was in the room as an observer. He took the microphone

to challenge both the certainty and the remedy. None of the other

scientists agreed with Flannery, and the IPCC brushed off Exxon's advice

to water down the report, according to Jeremy Leggett's eyewitness

account in his book,&nbsp;<em>The Carbon War</em>.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">At a conference in June 1991, MacCracken joined a panel chaired by

Flannery to work together on a climate change project involving

geo-engineering.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The contact, according to MacCracken, led to an unexpected

solicitation from the oil lobby in Washington. Will Ollison, a science

adviser at the American Petroleum Institute, in a fax marked urgent,

asked MacCracken, then at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, to

write a paper highlighting the scientific uncertainties surrounding

global warming</span>.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The API, where Exxon held enormous sway, wanted him to write up the

complex nuances in plain English – with an emphasis on the unknown, not

the known.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Ollison said the IPCC's 1990 report "may not have adequately addressed alternative views."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"A review of these alternative projections would be useful in

illustrating the uncertainties inherent in the 'consensus' views

expressed in the IPCC report," Ollison wrote.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">MacCracken rejected the task as "fruitless."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"I would caution you about too readily accepting whatever the

naysayers put forth as a means of achieving balance," MacCracken wrote

back.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Flannery, for his part, continued to emphasize uncertainty. And so

did Exxon's new chairman and chief executive, Lee Raymond, who spoke of

it repeatedly in public.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"Currently, the scientific evidence is inconclusive as to whether

human activities are having a significant effect on the global climate,"

Raymond claimed in a speech delivered in 1996 to the Economic Club of

Detroit.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"Many people, politicians and the public alike, believe that global

warming is a rock-solid certainty," he said the next year in a speech in

Beijing. "But it's not."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Addressing the World Petroleum Congress, which was meeting just

before the conclusion of the Kyoto Protocol negotiations, Raymond even

disputed that the planet was warming at all. "The earth is cooler today

than it was 20 years ago," he said.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">That was false. Authoritative climate agencies declared <a href="http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/1997/climate97.html">1997 the warmest year</a> ever measured. Decade by decade, the warming has continued, in line with the climate models.</font>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But Raymond, turning his back on Exxon researchers and their state-of-the-art work, mocked those climate models.</font></span>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"1990's models were predicting temperature increases of two to five

degrees Celsius by the year 2100. Last year's models say one to three

degrees. Where to next year?"</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"It is highly unlikely," he said, "that the temperature in the middle

of the next century will be significantly affected whether policies are

enacted now or 20 years from now."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>The Doubt Industry</strong></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon and its allies had been working hard to spread this dilatory message.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">First, they set up the<b> Global Climate Coalition (GCC),</b> a lobbying

partnership of leading oil and automobile companies dedicated to

defeating controls on carbon pollution.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"As major corporations with a high level of internal scientific and

technical expertise, they were aware of and in a position to understand

the available scientific data," recounts an <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-015-1472-5">essay on corporate responsibility for climate change published last month</a> in the peer-reviewed journal Climatic Change.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"From 1989 to 2002, the GCC led an aggressive lobbying and

advertising campaign aimed at achieving these goals by sowing doubt

about the integrity of the IPCC and the scientific evidence that

heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels drive global

warming,"&nbsp;says the article, by Harvard climate science historian Naomi

Oreskes and two co-authors.&nbsp;</font></p><div class="media media-element-container media-image_full"><figure id="file-266436" class="file file-image file-image-png">

<div class="content">

    <font face="Times New Roman" size="4">img headline chron<br /></font>  </div>

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<p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Then, in 1998 Exxon also helped create the Global Climate Science

Team</b>, an effort involving Randy Randol, the company's top lobbyist, and

Joe Walker, a public relations representative for API.</font></span></p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">

</span><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.euronet.nl/users/e_wesker/ew@shell/API-prop.html">Their memo</a>,

leaked to The New York Times, asserted that it is "not known for sure

whether (a) climate change actually is occurring, or (b) if it is,

whether humans really have any influence on it." Opponents of the Kyoto

treaty, it complained, "have done little to build a case against

precipitous action on climate change based on the scientific

uncertainty."</font></span></p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">

</span><p><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The memo declared: "Victory will be achieved when average citizens

'understand' (recognize) uncertainties in climate science," and when

"recognition of uncertainty becomes part of the 'conventional wisdom.'"</font></span></b>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon wholeheartedly embraced that theme. For example, an

advertisement called "Unsettled Science" that ran in major papers in the

spring of 2000, prompted one scientist to complain that it had

distorted his work by suggesting it supported the notion that global

warming was just a natural cycle. "It's a shame," Lloyd Keigwin later

told the Wall Street Journal. "The implication is that these data show

that we don't need to worry about global warming."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Another ad, one of a series placed in The New York Times, cast

aspersions on scientists who "believe they can predict changes in

climate decades from now."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Then, in the heat of the 2000 presidential race between climate

champion Al Gore and erstwhile oilman George W. Bush, Exxon placed an ad

in the Washington Post accusing MacCracken's office of putting the

"political cart before a scientific horse."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Blowing the Whistle</strong></font>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The collaboration between Exxon, its surrogates, <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/center-science-and-democracy/promoting-scientific-integrity/climate-change.html#.Vijc_WSrS2x">and the Bush administration</a> to emphasize uncertainty and stave off action came to light in 2005. A <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/fighting_climate_science_suppression/enforcing_national_assessment_of_climate_change/pdfs/Piltz-Resignation-Memo.pdf">whistleblower named Rick Piltz</a>

disclosed that Philip Cooney, an oil lobbyist who had become chief of

staff at the White House environmental council, had been heavily editing

the work of government researchers. Cooney resigned, and was hired by

Exxon.</font></span>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But the clashes continued between the scientific establishment and Exxon's purveyors of uncertainty.</font>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Royal Society of the United Kingdom, for centuries a renowned

arbiter of science, harshly criticized Exxon in 2006 for publishing

"very misleading" statements about the IPCC's Third Assessment Report.

The IPCC found that most of the observed warming of the planet in the

late 20^th century was probably caused by humans.</font></span>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Society's communications manager Bob Ward reminded Exxon

pointedly that one of its own scientists had contributed to the IPCC

chapter in question.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/publications/2006/royal-society-exxonmobil/">The Royal Society said</a>

it had no problem with Exxon funding scientific research, but "we do

have concerns about ExxonMobil's funding of lobby groups that seek to

misrepresent the scientific evidence relating to climate change."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Ward said Exxon <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/documents/Royal%20Society%20Letter%20to%20Exxon%20%282006%29.pdf">was funding at least 39 organizations</a>

"featuring information on their websites that misrepresented the

science on climate change, by outright denial of the evidence that

greenhouse gases are driving climate change, or by overstating the

amount and significance of uncertainty in knowledge."</font></p><div class="media media-element-container media-image_full"><figure id="file-266422" class="file file-image file-image-png with-caption">

<div class="content">

    <font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><img class="media-element file-image-full" src="https://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/styles/icn_full_wrap_wide/public/UCS%20Report.png?itok=50iOeL39" alt="" height="345" width="529" /></font><figcaption class="field field-name-field-image-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden">

<div class="field-items">

          <p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In 2007, the Union of Concerned Scientists published a 

report detailing Exxon's campaign of uncertainty, including a table

identifying dozens of organizations that the group said had received $16

million in Exxon contributions over several years. (Credit: Union of

Concerned Scientists)</font></p>

      </div>

</figcaption>

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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon's uncertainty campaign was detailed in three exhaustive reports

published in 2007 by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the

Government Accountability Project.</font></p><div class="media media-element-container media-image_left_medium"><figure id="file-266423" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg with-caption">

<div class="content">

    <font face="Times New Roman" size="4">img<br /></font><figcaption class="field field-name-field-image-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden">

<div class="field-items">

          <p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">James McCarthy (Credit: Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer)</font></p>
      </div>

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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">At a <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000061515956;view=1up;seq=3">Congressional hearing in 2007</a>,

Harvard scientist James McCarthy, who was a member of the UCS board and

the newly elected president of the American Association for the

Advancement of Science, declared: "The Bush administration and a network

of Exxon-funded, ExxonMobil funded organizations have sought to

distort, manipulate and suppress climate science so as to confuse the

American public about the urgency of the global warming problem, and

thus, forestall a strong policy response."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">To this day, top Exxon officials sometimes argue that models are no basis for policy.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">While Rex Tillerson, the current chairman, doesn't echo Lee Raymond's science denial <a href="http://corporate.exxonmobil.com/en/company/news-and-updates/speeches/unleashing-innovation-to-meet-our-energy-and-environmental-needs">in his formal speeches</a>, he sometimes backslides when speaking off the cuff.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">At Exxon's annual meeting in 2015, Tillerson said it would be best to

wait for more solid science before acting on climate change. "What if

everything we do, it turns out our models are lousy, and we don't get

the effects we predict?" he asked.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">And in its formal annual energy forecasts, as well as in its latest

report on the implications of its carbon footprint, Exxon adopts

business-as-usual assumptions. It deflects the question of how much

carbon will build up in the world's atmosphere over the next few

decades, or how much the planet will warm as a result.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"As part of our energy outlook process, we do not project overall

atmospheric GHG [greenhouse gas] concentration, nor do we model global

average temperature impacts," both reports say.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In footnotes, Exxon offers this excuse: "These would require data

inputs that are well beyond our company's ability to reasonably measure

or verify."</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><em>Click&nbsp;<a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092015/Exxons-own-research-confirmed-fossil-fuels-role-in-global-warming" target="blank">here for Part 1</a>, an overview of Exxon's history with climate change;<a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/16092015/exxon-believed-deep-dive-into-climate-research-would-protect-its-business" target="blank">&nbsp;Part II</a>, an accounting of&nbsp;Exxon's early climate research;&nbsp;<a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/18092015/exxon-confirmed-global-warming-consensus-in-1982-with-in-house-climate-models" target="blank">Part III</a>, a review of Exxon's climate modeling efforts;&nbsp;<a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/08102015/Exxons-Business-Ambition-Collided-with-Climate-Change-Under-a-Distant-Sea" target="blank">Part IV</a>, a dive into Exxon's Natuna gas field project;&nbsp;<a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/08102015/highlighting-allure-synfuels-exxon-played-down-climate-risks" target="_blank">Part V</a>, a look at Exxon's push for synfuels.</em></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><em>ICN staff members&nbsp;Neela Banerjee, Lisa Song, Zahra Hirji, and Paul Horn also contributed to this report.</em></font></p></div>

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    <font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><label>Published Under:</label></font>
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          <div class="field-item even"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/content/Exxon-The-Road-Not-Taken">Exxon: The Road Not Taken</a></font></div>
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          <div class="field-item even"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/business-and-accountability-0">Business and Accountability</a></font></div>
          <div class="field-item odd"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/denial">Denial</a></font></div>
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          <div class="field-item even"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/exxon-road-not-taken">Exxon: The Road Not Taken</a></font></div>
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</div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">==
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