For those who think that the scientist who have studied global warming
are alarmists because they want the government grant money:

Taxpayer-Funded Propaganda Against Global Warming

Corporations from a variety of industries are funding a
coordinated,multi-faceted propaganda blitz attacking global warming
science. Someof the details were revealed in a memo by the
Intermountain Rural Electric Association (IREA), a small electric
cooperative in Colorado that purchases electricity from coal-based
power plants, distributed "to the more than 900 fellow members of the
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association." The memo, written by
IREA general manager Stanley Lewandowski, expresses fear that
government action on global warming could impact the profitability of
coal-based power generation. In response, Lewandowski says it is
necessary to "support the scientific community that is willing to
stand up against the alarmists." (The term "alarmist" refers to
people who believe that global warming is a problem. Such people are
also referred to in the memo as those "whose true motivation is to stop
growth, develop renewable resources [and] discontinue the use of fossil
fuels, especially coal.") One problem: there is no "scientific
community" that disputes the basic science on global warming. The memo
acknowledges that almost all the doubters have no "involvement in
climatology." Their solution is to lavish money on the one
climatologist who they are confident will do their bidding: Pat
Michaels. The memo reveals that the small Colorado cooperative has paid
Michaels $100,000 this year and is aggressively seeking more donations
for Michaels from other electric cooperatives. The effort to fund
Michaels is described in the memo as part of a larger effort to distort
global warming science that involves several Fortune 500 corporations,
a think tank, misleading advertisements, lobbying, and a propaganda
film.

WHO IS PAT MICHAELS?: Pat Michaels is a climate scientist based at the
University of Virgina. John P. Holdren, a Harvard scientist, told the
Senate Republican Policy Committee that Michaels has "published
little if anything of distinction in the professional literature, being
noted rather for his shrill op-ed pieces and indiscriminate
denunciations of virtually every finding of mainstream climate
science." In 2003, Michaels famously "proved" that global warming
was mostly hype by mixing up degrees and radians. In 2004, Michaels
told Business Week, "We know how much the planet is going to warm. It
is a small amount, and we can't do anything about it." This year,
Michaels completely misrepresented a study by University of Missouri
Professor Curt Davis to falsely claim that Antarctica has been gaining
ice in recent years. Michaels' views about climate change are at odds
with the conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a
rigorously peer-reviewed report that involved thousands of scientists
from over 100 countries, which concluded, "There is new and stronger
evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is
attributable to human activities" and that, absent aggressive
mitigation efforts, future warming will be significant and dangerous.
(For a plan on how to move forward, see the recommendations of the
International Climate Change Task Force.)

SUBSIDIZING PROPAGANDA: Your tax dollars are paying for propaganda
attacking global warming science. The Intermountain Rural Electric
Association, like all electric cooperatives, is federally-subsidized.
So when the IREA gives $100,000 to Pat Michaels, some of that comes
from federal taxpayers. The group that is being exploited the most is
the IREA's 130,000 "members," who finance the cooperative -- and
Michaels' $100,000 payday -- with their electricity bills. Lewandowski
admitted he did not inform his members, who he supposedly represents,
before paying Michaels. Ron Binz, the former Colorado state utility
consumer advocate called the payment to Michaels "outrageous. It's an
abuse of authority." Binz explained, "Intermountain is a rural electric
cooperative. The customers are member-owners. Stan Lewandowski is
basically spending other people's money."

THE BROADER CONSPIRACY: In the memo, Lewandowski also described larger
efforts to distort global warming science. According to Lewandowski,
"Koch Industries is working with other large corporations including AEP
and the Southern Company on possibly financing a film that would
counteract An Inconvenient Truth." (An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's
movie on the dangers of global warming, is currently the fourth highest
grossing documentary of all time.) According to the memo, Koch
Industries will also finance a coalition attacking global warming
science "administered by the National Association of Manufactures." The
memo also stresses the importance of the Competitive Enterprise
Institute (CEI), an anti-global warming science "think tank" heavily
funded by Exxon Mobil and other corporations, in these efforts.
Lewandowski notes that Michaels, CEI, and Koch meet regularly to
"discuss their activities."