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</div><div>Microsoft, Google, and Facebook have all publicly promised to fight climate change, but now their commitment is seriously being called into question.</div><div>
</div><div>A damning report from Mother Jones reveals that all three of these tech giants were sponsors of a political student conference called LibertyCon, which repeatedly promoted climate change denialism at a recent event in Washington, DC.</div><div>
</div><div>Out of all three companies, Google donated the most, offering up US$25,000 for platinum sponsorship, while Facebook and Microsoft each contributed US$10,000 for a spot at the gold table.</div><div>
</div><div>These hefty sums were among some of the largest donations for the event, seating the tech giants alongside a number of organisations that are notorious for their attacks on climate science.</div><div>
</div><div>Entering the event's exhibit hall, attendees were reportedly given pamphlets detailing how Earth will actually be improved by more atmospheric carbon dioxide.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>One of the brochures apparently even claimed that "more carbon dioxide will help everyone, including future generations of our families" and that the "recent increase in CO2 levels has had a measurable, positive effect on plant life".</div><div>
</div><div>These were the inspiration of the CO2 Coalition, an organisation dedicated to pointing out "the important contribution made by carbon dioxide and fossil fuels to our lives and the economy". Unsurprisingly, the coalition is partly funded by none other than the Charles Koch Institute, a charity run by the brothers of the oil and gas giant, Koch Industries.</div><div>
</div><div>Under the CO2 Coalition's sponsorship, Caleb Rossiter, a retired statistics professor and infamous climate denier, was given a stage and a microphone. In his speech, he reportedly told the assembled students that when he hears that carbon dioxide levels are rising, he cheers because it "improves life expectancy".</div><div>
</div><div>Other activities at the conference were funded by The Heartland Institute, which has recently received a fair amount of media coverage for sending climate change-denying pamphlets to 200,000 teachers around the US.</div><div>
</div><div>The non-profit, which pushed President Trump to withdraw from the Paris climate accords, has reportedly received at least $676,500 from ExxonMobil since 1998, although it no longer discloses its funding sources.</div><div>
</div><div>The Heritage Foundation, another conservative group that supported the Paris agreement withdrawal, was yet another climate change-denying sponsor at the event.</div><div>
</div><div>At first, it's hard to fathom why these tech giants would want to keep such dubious company, especially at a conference that stands so firmly against their own, self-espoused policies.</div><div>
</div><div>Google is supposedly committed to a "zero carbon" future, promising to "meet the challenges posed by climate change"; Microsoft has pledged to cut carbon emissions by 75 percent by 2030; and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has loudly criticised President Donald Trump for leaving the Paris climate accord.</div><div>
</div><div>Mother Jones reporter Stephanie Mencimer proposes a reasonable explanation for the hypocrisy. With more and more talk about government regulation of tech, she argues, these companies have prioritised another battle at the expense of fighting climate change.</div><div>
</div><div>At the conference, Google alone sponsored two different sessions, one called "Why Permissionless Innovation Needs To Be Defended" and another titled "Will the Government Continue to let the Internet be Awesome? Examining regulatory threats on many fronts".</div><div>
</div><div>All three tech giants have since defended themselves in a similar way to the criticisms stemming from the controversy. Essentially, they argue, just because we have funded one aspect of this conference, does not mean we condone the entire agenda or agree with its other sponsors or speakers.</div><div>
</div><div>Google even claimed that it was sponsoring the event to "promote strong technology laws", although the subjects of its sponsored sessions might have some questioning that.</div><div>
</div><div>Whatever their ultimate goal may have been, at the very least, this new and revealing report brings their true motivations into question.</div><div>
</div><div>"The companies' underwriting of a conference with a climate denier on the schedule shows the hazards of trying to advance a policy agenda through interest groups without also supporting their fringe elements," Mencimer writes for Mother Jones.</div><div>
</div><div>You can read her report in full here.</div><div>
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</div><div>OMG&nbsp; http://www.co2isgreen.org/</div><div>
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</div><div>Here’s how the Mercer family’s climate denial funding influenced Trump</div><div>
</div><div>Nearly a quarter of the Mercers' 2016 donations went to groups which deny the science on climate change.</div><div>
</div><div>KYLA MANDEL</div><div>
</div><div>JAN 26, 2018, 3:10 PM</div><div>
</div><div>&nbsp;Robert and Rebekah Mercer attend the 12th International Conference on Climate Change hosted by The Heartland Institute on March 23, 2017 in Washington, D.C.&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>CREDIT: Oliver Contreras/Getty Images</div><div>
</div><div>ROBERT AND REBEKAH MERCER ATTEND THE 12TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE HOSTED BY THE HEARTLAND INSTITUTE ON MARCH 23, 2017 IN WASHINGTON, D.C. CREDIT: OLIVER CONTRERAS/GETTY IMAGES</div><div>
</div><div>Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, powerful conservative donors with close ties to the Trump administration, donated millions of dollars to climate science denial groups, newly released 2016 tax filing details show.</div><div>
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</div><div>According to the tax filings published by Buzzfeed and obtained by the Climate Investigations Center, nearly a quarter (23 percent) of the total $19 million donated to nonprofits by the Mercer Family Foundation in 2016 went to groups working, at least partially, on spreading misinformation around climate change and pushing to repeal environmental protections. Many of the groups that received donations have promoted carbon dioxide as nonpolluting, called for the repeal of the Clean Power Plan, and, over the past year, funneled officials into the Trump administration.</div><div>
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</div><div>The Mercers have quickly become known as some of the most powerful and secretive donors behind President Donald Trump. The family has given millions of dollars to conservative causes through its foundation, prompting Bloomberg News to describe Robert as “the man who out-Koched the Kochs”.</div><div>
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</div><div>As the filings show, the Mercers gave $125,000 to the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, a nonprofit based in Arizona which also goes by the name CO2 Science. Another $150,000 was donated to the CO2 Coalition, a small Virginia-based nonprofit with the tagline, “Carbon dioxide, a nutrient vital for life.” This contribution makes the Mercers the CO2 Coalition’s largest donor. Both organizations work exclusively on activities that promote a false uncertainty regarding the link between carbon emissions and their impact on global temperatures.</div><div>
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</div><div>A series of other donations also went to groups that work in part to promote climate science denial, including: $2 million to the Media Research Center, $800,000 to the Heartland Institute, $500,000 to the Heritage Foundation, $300,000 to the Cato Institute, $200,000 to the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and $200,000 to the Oregon Institute for Science and Medicine.</div><div>
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</div><div>Many of the organizations that received money from the Mercers have been consistently working to bring their anti-environmental agenda to the White House — from stacking the new administration with friendly faces to promoting fossil fuels and undermining the Paris climate agreement.</div><div>
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</div><div>After the November 2016 election, Trump began assembling his transition team. One of the most influential forces in shaping its members was the Heritage Foundation, according to Politico. Rebekah Mercer, who sits on the board of the Heritage Foundation, was part of the transition team’s executive committee and, according to Politico, she worked with Heritage to recruit appointees to the transition team.</div><div>
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</div><div>The Heritage Foundation and its affiliate, Heritage Action for America, were both signatories to an official January 2017 letter of support for Scott Pruitt, calling on the Senate to “swiftly approve his nomination” as administrator to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Heartland Institute also signed this letter. Pruitt’s nomination was approved one month later.</div><div>
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</div><div>Kathleen Hartnett-White is also currently in the running for a top environment position as head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). During her Senate confirmation hearing last November, Hartnett-White said she did not have “any kind of expertise or even much layman study” of climate change issues. On carbon dioxide she said, “CO2 in the atmosphere has none of the characteristics of a pollutant that contaminates and fouls and all of that that can have direct impact on human health. As an atmospheric gas, it is a plant nutrient.”</div><div>
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</div><div>This last sentence echoes the CO2 Coalition’s main message on carbon emissions. Hartnett-White sits on the advisory board of the CO2 Coalition and last February spoke at a CO2 Coalition sponsored discussion panel at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference.</div><div>
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</div><div>The idea that carbon dioxide should not be considered a pollutant is also being promoted by the Fueling Freedom project directed by Hartnett-White at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. This project seeks to “explain the forgotten moral case for fossil fuels” while “building a multi-state coalition to push back against the EPA’s unconstitutional efforts to take over the electric power sector by regulating CO2 via the Clean Power Plan.” In June 2016, Hartnett-White was hosted at a Heartland Institute event on “Fueling Freedom.” While her nomination has been met with resistance in the Senate, if approved, Hartnett-White will likely be another Trump administration voice calling for the repeal of key environmental regulations.</div><div>
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</div><div>Another potential member of Trump’s team connected to the CO2 Coalition is William Happer, the group’s founder, who has long been rumored to be a front-runner for the position of Trump’s science adviser. Ahead of Trump’s inauguration, Happer was reported to have met with both Trump and former adviser Steve Bannon. The Mercers funded Bannon’s Breitbart News but recently cut ties with the former White House adviser after his fallout with the Trump administration.</div><div>
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</div><div>A spokesperson for the Mercer family did not respond to ThinkProgress’ request for comment. Neither did any of the eight nonprofit climate denial groups that received donations from the family.</div><div>
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</div><div>The Heartland Institute has perhaps made one of the most concerted efforts to influence the government agenda on climate change, and not just under the current administration. In a February 2017 report, however, the group’s president Joe Bast wrote that its “primary goal over the next four years is to win the global warming war.”</div><div>
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</div><div>Both Rebekah and Robert Mercer attended the Heartland Institute’s climate denial conference last year where the government’s regulatory rollback was celebrated. And last September, the EPA reportedly reached out to Heartland to help it identify a list of researchers who reject mainstream scientific consensus on climate change for Pruitt’s “red team” exercise, aimed at poking holes in mainstream climate science. Emails and notes obtained by E&E News revealing the closed door meetings helped to give a “broad look at skeptics’ playbook under the Trump administration.”</div><div>
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</div><div>Then-Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt gestures as he answers a question during a news conference in 2013. CREDIT: AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki</div><div>
</div><div>EPA is asking a climate denier think tank for help recruiting its ‘red team’</div><div>
</div><div>Finally, Trump’s campaign promise to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement could not be forgotten. On May 8, 2017 an open letter was sent to Trump urging him to “withdraw from the Paris Climate Treaty and to stop all taxpayer funding of UN global warming programs.” Signatories to this letter include the Heartland Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the CO2 Coalition, and CO2 Science.</div><div>
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</div><div>On June 1, Trump announced he was pulling the U.S. out of the landmark agreement (although the United States doesn’t officially exit the accord until November of 2020, and could re-enter under a new administration).</div><div>
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</div><div>Present in the Rose Garden for Trump’s announcement was Heartland President Joe Bast, who later described this as a “sign that our efforts for the past 20 years on the climate change issue have not gone unnoticed.”</div><div>
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</div><div>n a video interview posted on The Wall Street Journal’s website, Journal editorial board member Mary Kissel told viewers that if they are “confused about the science surrounding climate change,” they should “trust” Rod Nichols, chairman of a climate science-denying fossil fuel front group known as the CO2 Coalition. During the interview, Nichols denied that human activities such as burning oil and coal are responsible for recent global warming, claiming that “[c]limate change has been going on for hundreds of millions of years,” that “[t]here is not going to be any catastrophic climate change,” and that “CO2 will be good for the world.” Kissel asked Nichols, “why don't we hear more viewpoints like the ones that your coalition represents,” and concluded that the CO2 Coalition’s research papers are “terrific.”</div><div>
</div><div>Here's the August 17 video:</div><div>
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</div><div>MARY KISSEL (Wall Street Journal editorial board member): Are you confused about the science surrounding climate change? Don't know who to trust? Well, we have help for you! Rod Nichols is chairman of the CO2 Coalition ... Rod, I want to start with the CO2 Coalition. What exactly is it, and who's involved?</div><div>
</div><div>RODNEY NICHOLS (CO2 Coalition chairman): We formed about a year ago -- a group of scientists, mostly physicists, a few chemists, engineers, economists -- who are convinced that the public is being misled about carbon dioxide. CO2. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. It is not a pollutant. But if you read the editorial pages and the news pages of most papers the word "pollutant" is always used with CO2.&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>KISSEL: So does that mean that your group doesn't believe in climate change? Or doesn't believe in something called "catastrophic climate change"?</div><div>
</div><div>NICHOLS: Climate change has been going on for hundreds of millions of years. Everybody should recognize that there is climate change. There is not going to be any catastrophic climate change. CO2 will be good for the world. CO2 enhances agriculture. Crops tend to grow on the average of 15 percent more per year given more CO2. And even more important, crops don't need as much water when they're growing if they have more CO2. You can see this at the edges of deserts where struggling little green plants -- you couldn't see them 35 years ago. Thirty-five years later the satellite photos clearly show that these little green plants -- with more CO2 and needing less water at the edge of deserts -- they're fluorishing!</div><div>
</div><div>KISSEL: So this is a completely opposite viewpoint than what is represented in, as you say, most of the media, most of our college classrooms. How did they get to this point, Rod? Why don't we hear more viewpoints like the ones that your coalition represents?</div><div>
</div><div>NICHOLS: Well, that's a really good question that I don't have a completely satisfactory answer to. I shy away from conspiracy theories, I don't think -- but it's true in the scientific literature, you can find "skeptics" as we are sometimes called who are arguing against what appears to be a consensus but their views are not covered. Their views are not debated. If nothing else, the CO2 Coalition wants to open up a real debate. Science thrives with discovery and debate. And the subtitle of our first report, about six months ago, was called "See For Yourself."</div><div>
</div><div>KISSEL: So where do viewers go to find out more information about what you're doing and to get educated on science about climate change?</div><div>
</div><div>NICHOLS: Good questions. CO2Coalition.org is a storehouse of very reliable data. We've surveyed data over decades published in our reports. One is called White Paper 1, and White Paper 2. You can get these, we'd be glad to send them to you.</div><div>
</div><div>KISSEL: And you don't need to be a scientist to understand these papers?</div><div>
</div><div>NICHOLS: They're prepared to be readable by any intelligent citizen. Even my daughter found them readable and she's not an environmentalist, she's not an alarmist, she's an art history major. She loved them.</div><div>
</div><div>KISSEL: Maybe even I will find it readable. In fact, it is readable. I have read these papers. They're terrific. CO2Coalition.org, go check it out, Rod Nichols is the chairman, thanks for joining us.</div><div>
</div><div>Related:</div><div>
</div><div>Climate Nexus Analysis: How The Wall Street Journal Opinion Section Presents Climate Change</div><div>
</div><div>Previously:</div><div>
</div><div>Breitbart News: Go-To Outlet For "Academics-For-Hire" By The Fossil Fuel Industry?</div><div>
</div><div>Slate Destroys Climate Denier Myth That CO2 Is Not A Pollutant</div><div>
</div><div>The Wall Street Journal: Dismissing Environmental Threats Since 1976</div><div>
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</div><div>http://co2coalition.org/about/</div><div>
</div><div>Board&nbsp; of&nbsp; Directors</div><div>
</div><div>Roger Cohen, PhD: fellow of the American Physical Society. Former Manager Strategic Planning ExxonMobil Research and Engineering.</div><div>
</div><div>Will Happer, PhD: Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics (emeritus) Princeton University, former Director Office of Energy Research Director of Research, U.S. Department of Energy, co-founder Magnetic Imaging Technologies.</div><div>
</div><div>Craig Idso, PhD: founder Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, member American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Geophysical Union, and the American Meteorological Society.</div><div>
</div><div>Patrick Moore, PhD: Co-founder and 15-year leader of Greenpeace (1971-1986). Chairman and Chief Scientist, Ecosense Environmental. Leader, Campaign to Allow Golden Rice Now.</div><div>
</div><div>Rodney Nichols: former Chief Executive Officer of the New York Academy of Sciences; Scholar-in-Residence at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, former Executive Vice President Rockefeller University.</div><div>
</div><div>William O’Keefe: CEO George C. Marshall Institute; founder Solutions Consulting; former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer American Petroleum Institute.</div><div>
</div><div>Harrison Schmitt, PhD: geologist, astronaut and last man to walk the moon (Apollo 17), adjunct professor physics University of Wisconsin-Madison, and former U.S. Senator from New Mexico.</div><div>
</div><div>Leighton Steward: geologist, former Chairman, Louisiana Land and Exploration Company; chair, Institute for the Study of Earth and Man Southern Methodist University, author.</div><div>Advisory&nbsp; Committee</div><div>
</div><div>Larry Bell, PhD: Professor University of Houston, established the research program in space architecture, author of Climate of Corruption: Politics and Power Behind the Global Warming Hoax.</div><div>
</div><div>Bruce Everett, PhD: faculty Tufts University’s Fletcher School, over forty years of experience in the international energy industry.</div><div>
</div><div>Kathleen Hartnett-White: distinguished fellow and director of the Armstrong Center for Energy and the Environment, Texas Public Policy Foundation, former chair Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.</div><div>
</div><div>Richard Lindzen, PhD: emeritus Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology, member National Academy of Sciences, fellow of the American Meteorological Society and American Association for the Advancement of Science, author of 200 scientific articles and books.</div><div>
</div><div>Pat Michaels, PhD: director of the Center for the Study of Science, Cato Institute, past president American Association of State Climatologists, former Virginia state climatologist, program chair American Meteorological Society.</div><div>
</div><div>Mark Mills: senior fellow Manhattan Institute, CEO Digital Power Group, a tech-centric capital advisory group, faculty Fellow McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University.</div><div>
</div><div>Norman Rogers: founder of Rabbit Semiconductor company, policy advisor to The Heartland Institute, member of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society.</div><div>
</div><div>Roy Spencer, PhD: Principal Research Scientist at the University of Alabama Huntsville; served as Senior Scientist for Climate Studies at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center; co-developer of satellite temperature measurement system.</div><div>
</div><div>Lorraine Yapps Cohen: former communications & marketing manager ExxonMobil, columnist Examiner newspapers.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
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</div><div>piece itself touts a few classic denier myths, from CO2 being good, to the existence of a global warming pause, to the letter penned by “300 experts” accusing National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of cooking the books on climate change.</div><div>
</div><div>On the bright side, this provides a good opportunity to look at the CO2 Coalition—the relatively new fossil fuel front group referenced in the op-ed. And make no mistake, it is almost assuredly a front group. The coalition’s “about” page lists the board of directors and advisory committee and regular Denier Roundup readers will recognize most of the names (Lindzen, Moore, Michaels, etc). The first committee member listed is Roger Cohen, whose bio identifies him as an American Physical Society fellow and as the former manager of strategic planning for ExxonMobil‘s research and engineering department. The second name listed is the author of the New York Post op-ed, Will Happer.</div><div>
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</div><div>Happer is the emeritus professor whom Greenpeace recently exposed for his willingness to accept money from a Middle Eastern fossil fuel company in exchange for writing pro-CO2 content that would go through a sort of “peer-review” conducted by fellow deniers. In order to conceal that payment, Happer suggested the money be funneled through none other than the CO2 Coalition, the “nonprofit” that is given a plug in the Post’s piece.</div><div>
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</div><div>This begs the question: Did someone pay Happer for this particular piece of pro-CO2 propaganda published in the Post?</div><div>
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</div><div>he Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change is run by Sherwood Idso and his sons Craig and Keith, long-time climate science deniers. The Center runs the science denial site CO2 Science. The group has worked with the Greening Earth Society, founded by the Western Fuels Association. It also has received funding from ExxonMobil.</div><div>
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</div><div>Per its unapologetically Orwellian name, CO2isGreen runs anti-climate/clean energy advertisements reflecting the strident climate science denial sentiments of the oil and coal executives who run it. H. Leighton Steward is chairman of CO2IsGreen.org and the related front group PlantsNeedCO2.org. Steward has worked at Shell and Burlington Resources. He has chaired the U.S. Oil and Gas Association, the Natural Gas Supply Association, and the Louisiana Mid Continent Oil and Gas Association. Steward currently serves on the board of the oil and gas company EOG Resources. In 2001, Steward was awarded the American Petroleum Institute's Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement. The Washington Post reports: "Steward has joined forces with Corbin J. Robertson Jr., chief executive of and leading shareholder in Natural Resource Partners, a Houston-based owner of coal resources that lets other companies mine in return for royalties." According to Astrotruth.org: "[Robertson] is the CEO of Natural Resources Partners L.P., which belongs to the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. ACCCE is a 'pro coal group' that is linked to at least thirteen fraudulent letters mailed to members of Congress purporting to be from seniors, veterans, African American, Latino and Women's organizations expressing opposition to ACES. In 2008, ACCCE spent at least $45 million on a clean coal advertising campaign, and during the first two quarters of 2009, ACCCE has spent over a million dollars in direct federal lobbying."</div><div>
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</div><div>Plants Need CO2 was a climate complacency front group 501(c)(3) that (with ad-buying sibling 501(c)(4) CO2 Is Green) popped up in 2009, with a mission "to educate the public on the positive effects of additional atmospheric CO2..."[1]. One of its directors, Corbin Robertson of Quintana Minerals, "is said to own more coal through his various ventures than anyone outside of the U.S. government"[2] - and was a Koch strategy group attendee.</div><div>
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</div><div>Contents</div><div>&nbsp;[hide]&nbsp;</div><div>1 Website content</div><div>1.1 Message: more CO2 good</div><div>1.1.1 Science: more CO2 not good</div><div>1.2 Visible personnel: Leighton Steward</div><div>2 Domain registration</div><div>3 Directors and backgrounds</div><div>4 Contact details</div><div>5 Articles and resources</div><div>5.1 References</div><div>5.2 Related SourceWatch articles</div><div>5.3 External resources</div><div>5.4 External articles</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>Website content</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>Message: more CO2 good</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>According to the Plants Need CO2 website, "Earth and it's inhabitants need more, not less, CO2..."[1].</div><div>
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</div><div>Science: more CO2 not good</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>Skeptical Science provides the evidence that "Negative impacts of global warming on agriculture, health & environment far outweigh any positives".[3]</div><div>
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</div><div>Visible personnel: Leighton Steward</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>The group's only named principal is its spokesman, H. Leighton Steward, described as "a geologist, environmentalist, author, and retired energy industry executive" who's interested in "helping to educate the general public and the politicians about the tremendous benefits of carbon dioxide (CO2) as it relates to the plant and animal kingdoms and their related ecosystems and habitats, and the general health of humanity".[4]</div><div>
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</div><div>Domain registration</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>The plantsneedco2.org domain was originally registered on May 26, 2009; as of its August 25 2009 update it showed H. Leighton Steward as the registrant, using a networksolutionsprivateregistration.com email address and the Network Solutions business address.</div><div>
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</div><div>Earlier, registration information reportedly tied it to Quintana Minerals Corporation, which "provides oil and gas exploration services to the energy sector" and "offers crude oil and natural gas production services."[5]</div><div>
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</div><div>Directors and backgrounds</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>The Plants Need CO2 website does not name the group's directors, only spokesman H. Leighton Steward.</div><div>
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</div><div>According to its corporate Certificate of Formation[6], the group has three directors: Steward, Wyatt Hogan and Corbin Robertson Jr.</div><div>
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</div><div>H. Leighton Steward is a director at EOG Resources, an oil and gas company formerly known as Enron Oil and Gas Company, where he earned $617,151 in 2008.[5]</div><div>Wyatt Hogan is Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of GP Natural Resource Partners LLC.[7]</div><div>Corbin Robertson Jr. is "said to own more coal through his various ventures than anyone outside of the U.S. government"; he is the grandson and heir of Texas oilman Hugh Roy Cullen, and is president of Quintana Minerals, CEO and chairman of Natural Resource Partners LP, and chairman of Quintana Maritime Ltd. [2]</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>Contact details</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>Website: http://plantsneedco2.org/</div><div>Phone: none provided</div><div>Email address: info AT plantsneedco2.org</div><div>
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</div><div>Articles and resources</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>References</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>? 1.0 1.1 No byline (Undated). First Page. Plants Need CO2. Retrieved on 2011-03-27. “Earth and it's inhabitants need more, not less, CO2.”</div><div>? 2.0 2.1 Mary Ann Azevedo (2007-09-09). Energy fund drills in new 'direction'. Houston Business Journal. Retrieved on 2011-03-27. “Hugh Roy Cullen, who was dubbed "arguably Houston's most famous oilman" by Texas Monthly in 2005, founded the now-defunct Quintana Petroleum in 1930. Today, Corby Robertson -- Cullen's grandson -- is said to own more coal through his various ventures than anyone outside of the U.S. government (see "Cullen heir nabs huge lumps of coal," Dec. 8, 2006). Besides his role with Quintana Energy Partners, Robertson also serves as president of Quintana Minerals Corp., CEO and chairman of publicly traded Natural Resource Partners LP, and chairman of Quintana Maritime Ltd., a Nasdaq-traded bulk shipping company.”</div><div>? gpwayne (2010-08-17). Positives and negatives of global warming. Skeptical Science. Retrieved on 2011-04-04.</div><div>? Plants Need CO2 (2009). About Plants Need CO2 - CO2 is Green & Green is Good. Retrieved on 2009-09-18.</div><div>? 5.0 5.1 Miles Grant, "Big Oil creates phony climate denial site, lies about it", Grist, September 4, 2009.</div><div>? Filing #801134935, filed June 15 2009 with the Texas Secretary of State</div><div>? Forbes (2009). Wyatt L. Hogan Profile. Forbes. Retrieved on 2009-09-18.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>Related SourceWatch articles</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>Corbin Robertson</div><div>CO2 Is Green</div><div>Koch</div><div>Koch Industries</div><div>Koch Event 2010-06 Attendees</div><div>Front groups</div><div>Global warming</div><div>Global warming skeptics</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>External resources</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>External articles</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>Steven J. Mufson, "New Groups Revive the Debate Over Causes of Climate Change", Washington Post, September 25, 2009.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>Categories:</div><div>Coal Issues</div><div>Energy</div><div>Climate change</div><div>Front groups portal</div><div>United States</div><div>Environment</div><div>===</div><div>
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</div><div>See Plants Need CO2 for more information.</div><div>
</div><div>CO2 Is Green is the 501(c)(4) companion to 501(c)(3)Plants Need CO2, running media advertisements pushing a "More CO2 is good" message.[1]. According to its Certificate of Formation [2], the group's directors are spokesman (and EOG Resources Director) H. Leighton Steward, Wyatt Hogan, and coal baron Corbin J. Robertson, Jr., who "is said to own more coal through his various ventures than anyone outside of the U.S. government."[3]</div><div>
</div><div>Contents</div><div>&nbsp;[hide]&nbsp;</div><div>1 2009 founding: $752k stock purchase and $752k income</div><div>2 Articles and resources</div><div>2.1 References</div><div>2.2 Related SourceWatch articles</div><div>2.3 External resources</div><div>2.4 External articles</div><div>2009 founding: $752k stock purchase and $752k income</div><div>Both groups were founded in mid-2009. Curiously, this organization 2009 income of $752,800[4] is within $10 of director Leighton Steward's $752,807.30 purchase of EOG Resources stock on June 3, 2009[5], the week after the first of the two groups' domains was registered.[6]. (As the purchase does not appear to have been a stock option exercise[7], it's unclear why the two amounts would match; an explanation has been requested.[8].)</div><div>
</div><div>Articles and resources</div><div>References</div><div>? Anne C. Mulkern (2010-07-14). Ads Backed by Fossil-Fuel Interests Argue 'CO2 Is Green' -. NYTimes.com Greenwire. Retrieved on 2011-03-27. “The organization "C02 is Green" funded a half-page advertisement in The Washington Post urging people to call their senators and seek a vote against "the president's cap-and-trade bill that will increase your cost of living and not change the climate.”</div><div>? Certificate of Formation of CO2 Is Green, Inc, filed Jul. 20, 2009 with Texas Secretary of State; filing #801149434, tax ID 32039951440</div><div>? Mary Ann Azevedo (2007-09-09). Energy fund drills in new 'direction'. Houston Business Journal. Retrieved on 2011-03-27. “Hugh Roy Cullen, who was dubbed "arguably Houston's most famous oilman" by Texas Monthly in 2005, founded the now-defunct Quintana Petroleum in 1930. Today, Corby Robertson -- Cullen's grandson -- is said to own more coal through his various ventures than anyone outside of the U.S. government (see "Cullen heir nabs huge lumps of coal," Dec. 8, 2006). Besides his role with Quintana Energy Partners, Robertson also serves as president of Quintana Minerals Corp., CEO and chairman of publicly traded Natural Resource Partners LP, and chairman of Quintana Maritime Ltd., a Nasdaq-traded bulk shipping company.”</div><div>? "gross receipts" from its 2009 IRS Form 990, Guidestar.org, EIN 27-0586701</div><div>? Weekly Top Insider Buys: American Express Company, EOG Resources Inc., American Water Works Company Inc., Genworth Financial Inc., and Strayer Education Inc.. GuruFocus.com. Retrieved on 2011-04-05. “Director of EOG Resources Inc., H Leighton, Steward bought 10,230 shares on 6/03/2009 at an average price of $73.51.”</div><div>? plantsneedco2.org Record created on 26-May-2009</div><div>? [1]</div><div>? Email sent to Leighton Steward 2011-04-05</div><div>Related SourceWatch articles</div><div>Koch Event 2010-06 Attendees</div><div>Corbin Robertson</div><div>Plants Need CO2</div><div>Natural Resource Partners</div><div>External resources</div><div>External articles</div><div>This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.</div><div>&nbsp;</div></div>