Patrick Michaels

Michaels and the fossil fuel industry

According to a January 2007 report (pdf) by the Union of Concerned Scientists called Smoke, Mirrors and Hot Air: how Exxonmobil uses big tobacco to manufacture uncertainty on climate science, Michaels is connected to no less than 11 think tanks and associations that have received money from oil-giant ExxonMobil to sow doubt about the realities of human-induced global warming. These include the George C Marshall Institute, the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Heartland Institute.

Michaels and the Cato Institute

Michaels is particulary active with the Cato Institute, where he holds the title of "Senior Fellow." The Cato Institute is a Washington DC-based "think tank" that has received funding in the past from ExxonMobil, as well well-known energy industry-money backed charitable foundations like the Charles G Koch Foundation.

Michaels and the IREA leaked memo

In August 2006, DSBlog and ABC News uncovered a leaked memo written by the president of the Intermountain Rural Electrical Association. In the memo it is written that Michaels' consulting firm, New Hope Environmental Services, received $100,000 from the IREA and "other electrical cooperatives" in the past. Controversy ensued, with the Virginia governor's office voicing its concern over Micheals use of the title of "state climatologist."

A September 17, 2006 Washington Post article states: "Michaels, a professor at the University of Virginia, also moonlights as one of the country's most aggressive and, in some circles, most reviled skeptics about the scientific consensus on climate change. It was that role that landed Michaels in the center of a small controversy in Richmond last month, when the administration of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) asked him to be clear that he is not speaking for the state when discussing issues such as global warming."

Here is the collection of DSBlog posts about or mentioning Pat Michaels.

Research and Background

Michaels is widely known as one of the most active and vocal global warming deniers. Michaels is a professor at the University of Virginia and according to a search of 22,000 academic journals, Michaels has published 50+ original research papers in peer-reviewed journals, mainly in the area of climate.