Saturday, March 6, 2010

Evidence provided in UK Parliamentary inquiry into climate scientists was prepared by oil and gas industry consultant

Just so we’re all clear on the forces behind the persecution of climate scientists:

The Institute of Physics, London. This week the body was forced to clarify its submission to the parliamentary climate emails inquiry. Photograph: Rex Features / Jeff Blackler

The Guardian just broke the news that a consultant to Shell and other oil and gas interests was the source of ‘evidence’ provided by the Institute of Physics in the current UK parliamentary review of the controversy in England over climate scientists’ emails stolen from servers at the University of East Anglia.

The Guardian reports:

“Evidence from a respected scientific body to a parliamentary inquiry examining the behaviour of climate-change scientists, was drawn from an energy industry consultant who argues that global warming is a religion” …

The Guardian has established that the institute prepared its evidence, which was highly critical of the CRU scientists, after inviting views from Peter Gill, an IOP official who is head of a company in Surrey called Crestport Services.

According to Gill, Crestport offers "consultancy and management support services … particularly within the energy and energy intensive industries worldwide", and says that it has worked with "oil and gas production companies including Shell, British Gas, and Petroleum Development Oman".

Gill's LinkedIn profile reveals that, in addition to his post at IOP, he works for the Energy Institute, a "leading professional body for the energy industries" that advocates "the safe, environmentally responsible and efficient supply and use of energy in all its forms," and that he started his career with an outfit called Coal Processing Consultants LTD.

Perhaps the parliamentary inquiry should pause for a second to ask Gill and the Institute of Physics a few questions, especially in light of the fact that the IOP was recently forced to issue a clarification stating that the evidence it submitted on the topic of the CRU hack “does not undermine the scientific basis for climate change.” …

Evidence Provided In UK Parliamentary Inquiry Into Climate Scientists Was Prepared By Oil and Gas Industry Consultant

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