[A-List] "Figures Don't Lie But Liars Can Figure" Dept: Fossil Fuel Industry Lobby Group Ignored Own Scientists On Greenhouse Gases

[Leighm]

Industries Buried Internal Findings
Climate Wording Cut From Public Report
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 25, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042403331.html

A group funded by fossil-fuel-dependent companies that argued for years 
that human-generated greenhouse gases were not driving global warming 
was advised by its own scientists that this was the case, according to 
documents submitted as part of an ongoing lawsuit between auto 
manufacturers and states seeking to regulate vehicles' greenhouse gas 
emissions.
This Story

The Global Climate Coalition, a group of representatives of the oil, 
auto and coal industries, spent years telling the public that the link 
between human activity and climate change was too uncertain to justify 
U.S. participation in the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 treaty aimed at curbing 
greenhouse gas emissions.

In 1995, however, a "primer" on the issue produced by the organization's 
own scientific experts concluded that "the scientific basis for the 
Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of 
greenhouse gases such as CO2 on climate is well established and cannot 
be denied."

This language was deleted from the primer when the group released it to 
the public.

Existence of the deleted material was first reported yesterday by the 
New York Times, which received it from a lawyer involved in a suit 
between the state of California and automakers; The Washington Post 
obtained a copy from the Sierra Club, which is also involved in the case.

William O'Keefe, who chaired the group before it folded in 2002, denied 
that the organization made an effort to suppress science suggesting a 
link between carbon-based emissions and climate change. He said the 
Times article "creates the impression the companies within the GCC 
intentionally tried to mislead the public on the human impact on the 
climate. That is absolute fiction. What we said then is there was enough 
uncertainty about the extent of human influence that it would not 
justify the Kyoto Protocol."

David Bookbinder, the Sierra Club's chief climate counsel, said it was 
notable that three of the parties in the case -- the Alliance of 
Automobile Manufacturers, General Motors and Chrysler -- had earlier 
dropped one of their legal claims that would have compelled them to hand 
over documents related to climate change science. Another party, the 
Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, turned over the 
primer.

"The only conceivable reason they would drop their claim is they were 
afraid to share their documents on climate change with the public or the 
courts," Bookbinder said.

Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), one of the Senate's most vocal proponents 
of climate legislation, said the revelation of the deleted material 
"underscores the need to be wary of some of the industry studies and 
analyses that will come out" in the coming months as Congress debates 
whether to impose a mandatory limit on greenhouse gas emissions.

Former vice president Al Gore also attacked the Global Climate Coalition 
yesterday in a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, 
comparing it to disgraced financier Bernard Madoff. "They have committed 
a fraud larger than Madoff's fraud," Gore said. "They lied to people who 
trusted them, in order to make money."

In a sign of how much has changed over the past dozen years, former 
members of the defunct industry group now endorse a cap-and-trade bill 
to curb emissions.

"The utility industry doesn't dispute the science or the need for 
federal legislation," said Dan Riedinger of the Edison Electric 
Institute. "Our focus is on urging lawmakers to enact a climate bill 
that cuts emissions but also protects our customers from sharply higher 
costs."