Message From the Editor

This week, Justin Mikulka explores the financial mismatch between the sunny forecasts shale oil and gas companies have been selling to investors and the stormy losses they’ve been serving in reality. Find out the ways fracking firms do this, with bonus lessons on fraud, loopholes, and ethics from Enron.

Meanwhile, Dana Drugmand examines the claims in an open letter signed by 54 oil and gas executives that says not producing oil and gas would be “criminal.” Yes, they really said that.

And Sharon Kelly has brand-new documents showing how Trump Interior official Indur Goklany pushed to include climate science denial language into federal scientific reports.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: editor@desmogblog.com.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. We’re powered by readers like you. Can you pitch in $20 to support our independent journalism and research?

Is the U.S. Fracking Boom Based on Fraud?

— By Justin Mikulka (11 min. read) —

In a 2016 interview with Fraud Magazine, former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow explained what he thought made him so successful while at the former energy corporation that's now infamous for financial scandal.

“I think my ability to do structured financing, to finance things off-balance sheet and to find ways to manipulate financial statements — there's no nice way to say it. Like I said at the conference, I was good at finding loopholes.”

As Fastow explained, in finance, the difference between a loophole and fraud isn’t always easy to identify. And that may be something the U.S. fracking industry is working to its advantage.

Oil Execs, Anxious About Public Support, Claim Halting Fossil Fuel Production Would Be 'Criminal'

— By Dana Drugmand (12 min. read) —

A new oil and gas industry ad pushes back against growing calls to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for the climate crisis — by making the bold statement that it would be criminal not to produce oil and gas.

The ad by the industry trade group Western Energy Alliance (WEA) takes the form of an open letter to 2020 Democratic presidential candidates and is signed by 54 oil and gas company executives. It calls out Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and former Vice President Joe Biden, who have all said they believe the industry should face accountability.

New Documents Show How Trump Interior Official Pushed Climate Misinformation into Federal Reports

— By Sharon Kelly (8 min. read) —

A major New York Times investigative report, published March 2, revealed efforts by Indur M. Goklany, a Department of Interior employee with ties to the Heartland Institute and other fossil-funded denial organizations, to modify federal reports to include misleading information about climate science.

DeSmog has obtained some of the emails cited by The Times in that investigation, published here for the first time.

Longtime Climate Science Foe David Schnare Uses 'Scare Tactics' to Bash Transportation Climate Initiative for Koch-Tied Think Tank

— By Dana Drugmand (6 min. read) —

Opponents of a regional proposal to curb transportation sector emissions in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic are using a number of deceptive tactics to attack and criticize the Transportation and Climate Initiative. Groups tied to the oil industry have pointed to misleading studies, deployed questionable public opinion polling and circulated an open letter in opposition.

In Virginia, a conservative think tank is now touting a biased analysis, dismissed by critics as misleading “scare tactics,” authored by anti-environmental attorney David Schnare, that questions Virginia’s legal authority to participate in the regional program.

Membership Income Triples for UK’s Main Climate Science Denial Campaign Group

— By Zak Derler (3 min. read) —

In its latest end of year accounts, the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), the UK’s most prominent climate science denial group, has reported that its total income has increased by around £75,000 over the last year – an increase of almost 20 percent.

The thinktank was founded by Conservative peer Nigel Lawson in 2009, due to his concerns about “extremely damaging and harmful policies” to deal with global warming.

GWPF accounts, published last Friday on Companies House, show a rise in total income from £351,642 in 2018 to £426,244 in 2019 – an increase of £74,602.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Indur M. Goklany

Indur M. Goklany is a senior advisor at the U.S. Interior Department’s Office of Policy Analysis. In addition to receiving funding from the climate science denial group Heartland Institute, he has had ties with numerous think tanks that question the scientific consensus and action on man-made climate change including the Cato Institute, the Reason Foundation, and Global Warming Policy Foundation. The New York Times reported recently that Goklany was behind the insertion of “misleading language about climate change” (known internally as the “Goks uncertainty language”) while working at the Interior Department.
Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database or our new Koch Network Database.