As a skeptic of AGW, I and many of my peers are often subjected to scrutiny and accusations of being in the employ of “big oil”. It’s a standard line used by warmists, almost as effective at denigration as playing the race card in an argument that has nothing to do with race.
“Oh, don’t pay any attention to him, he (insert one) /works for/is paid by/is supporting/is a shill for/ big oil” is how it usually goes when warmists want to shut down a conversation.
On Twitter this weekend, a bit of sparring by Andrew Neil of the Spectator and the BBC led to one simple question by Dana Nuccitelli:
Yes, I was kind of curious also. Thanks for bringing up the question. But just as soon as the question started getting asked, we have this followup from Dana:
Stop fishing? That’s funny. Why wouldn’t he want his co-workers to know he’s got this plum gig over at the Guardian, that bastion of all things green, where he writes about the evils (and silver linings) of carbon emissions?
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/jun/11/climate-change-carbon-emissions-iea-silver-lining
His bio at the Guardian is rather sparse, listing him only as an “environmental scientist and risk assessor”: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/dana-nuccitelli
Since that bio is a bit slim, how about this one from his Linked in page:
Source: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dana-nuccitelli/7/a44/661
And who is Tetra Tech?
Source: http://www.tetratech.com/markets/oil-a-gas.html
It reads:
“We support oil and gas exploration and production, gathering pipelines, transmission pipelines, compressor/pumping stations, processing facilities, refineries, storage facilities (above ground and below ground), and rail, truck, and marine terminal import and export facilities.”
This revelation about Dana working for a company that supports “big oil” in the form of oil and gas exploration and production may very well revoke Dana’s “green card”.
And ironically, Tetra Tech is big in mining too, for those that want to talk trash about Steve McIntyre’s work in the mining industry.
Welcome to the Streisand effect, Dana.
As a follow up to this primer, you can read Andrew Neil’s essay on the issue here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23405202
Addendum: If Dana wants to argue that the reason he works for this company that supports oil and gas exploration and production, is that he believes that such things can be done in an “environmentally friendly” way while managing the risk, so that we can continue to use oil and gas in the face of the risks he talks about, I would certainly be OK with that. – Anthony
UPDATE: his response? Fingers in ears: la la la la la!
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markx says:
July 22, 2013 at 9:36 am
If you think about it, there are great advantages for ‘big oil’ and especially ‘big gas’ to make things difficult for ‘big coal’…..
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Read: Enron, joined by BP, invented the global warming industry. I know because I was in the room….
Does anyone have a Tetra Tech application form handy? I have no moral integrity and don’t mind who I sub for money. I must be their perfect employee.
Andrew Neil:
“As pointed out above some scientists (and Mr Nuccitelli) believe that global warming…”
I love this particular little dig at Nutter.
Dana is an expert on precisely nothing if my only encounter with him is a measure. He ridiculed Prof Bamber’s research on glaciers and said his statement on the relevance of the man-measured glaciers was “rubbish”….. He should live in a shed , marked “tool shed”.
Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK) Investor Alert: Lawsuit Alleges False and Misleading Statements
http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/tetra-tech-inc-nasdaqttek-investor-alert-lawsuit-alleges-false-and-misleading-statements-275417.htm
I wonder if they will tell us next that their models sometimes show a 15 year plateau followed by a substatial decrease of temperature.
Andrew Neill has always been a figure of fun in the UK. Google Andrew Neill Brillo.
Hmmmmmmmm I wonder if Tetra Tech is involved at all in “Fracking”?
Wouldn’t that just be delicious?
No more “big oil” funding shots from this one ……. no sir.
Perhaps Nuccitelli is so far up the moral high ground that he is suffering from oxygen starvation.
===================================================================
I admit that I’m not up on what some of the names of those promoting CAGW and what they have said in attempts to discredit those who point out “its going the opposite way” by claiming they are in the pay of “Big Oil”. Maybe Dana has never made such an accusation.
If he has, then he’s open to having a little fun poked at him with this just as Al Gore opened himself up in his sale to of Current TV.
But you are dead right in saying that what he says should not be dismissed simply because of who pays him.
“They” make that mistake. “We” shouldn’t emulate it.
It’s just like Pachauri who some years back established a residual oil extraction technology company called Glorioil (name now changed) to help big oil companies extract those last remaining remnants of oil. As for Dana he is a hypocrite. I hope someone on WUWT with a Guardian commenting account point this fact out to him on his next watermelon posting.
Climate alarmists are in the business of perpetuating the myth of sceptics ‘being in the pay of Big Oil’ although not one of them is ever prepared to offer up definitive proof to back up such ill-founded claims. CAGW evangelists subscribe to the view that if you repeat a lie often enough eventually people who know no better will simply believe it…until proof is no longer required or sought. And this is where we are, as sceptics, in the face of such sustained propaganda – warmist agitators openly lie on national television (and in print) about imaginary ‘funding’ by those evil fossil fuel corporations to CAGW dissidents and nobody seems remotely interested in holding such baseless accusations up to examination, least of all the hopelessly compromised, completely ineffective mainstream media – which by now appears to have divested itself of any last vestige of journalistic integrity.
But, really, what else did we expect? Propagating baseless, damaging rumours against one’s critics in order to undermine their legitimacy is one of the oldest tricks in the book, as anyone familiar with a history of the 20th century’s long list of indoctrinaire dictators can testify.
In terms of fossil-fuel funding for warmists, this pales into insignificance alongside the Sierra Club’s antics a year or two back. They not only took $26m from the major shale gas company, Chesapeake, to campaign against coal, they then turned around and reneged: hypocritical and unprincipled.
The rabbit hole is indeed deep: One of comic book artist John Cook’s co-authors on SkepticalScience.com works for a nuclear weapons design company that now also gets three hundred million dollar grants for green energy. RealClimate.org was established by the PR firm that was behind both the silicone breast implant scare that bankrupted Dow Corning and the autism/vaccine scare. DeSmogBlog.com is financed by a $125 million online gambling convicted money launderer who then sold solar cells.
Margaret Hardman says:
July 22, 2013 at 3:12 pm
Andrew Neill has always been a figure of fun in the UK. Google Andrew Neill Brillo.
I did just that. Do you have a problem with Scots?
http://www.newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-opinion/5839-why-does-andrew-neil-inspire-such-visceral-loathing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Neil
The oil and gas industry has many green shills within their ranks effectively working against their own interests. Remember the Shell Oil ads from a few years ago where a Nuccitelli type is berating his Shell executive Dad for his company’s sins against the environment. I guess the industry is so lucrative that even saboteurs are welcome employees.
But he rides a small oil bike remember.
…ah Dana *is* the now better known SkepticalScience co-author I exposed about this a year ago, after his bio there sent me digging:
“dana1981
Dana Nuccitelli is an environmental scientist at a private environmental consulting firm in the Sacramento, California area. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in astrophysics from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Master’s Degree in physics from the University of California at Davis. He has been researching climate science, economics, and solutions as a hobby since 2006, and has contributed to Skeptical Science since September, 2010. He also blogs at The Guardian. Follow him on Twitter.”
I originally posted about it in this thread:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/06/15/quote-of-the-week-collapse/#comment-681144
Dana ant Tetra Tech appeared on WUWT before via a commenter.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/05/a-junk-scientists-misguided-crusade-against-the-keystone-xl-pipeline/#comment-1239776
Furthermore, we have this:
Shale he or not? I hope Dana has made his opposition to dirty shale oil known to his Big Oil paymaster.
Why, was it not obvious for some time it was the evil oil & gas industry which lurked behind the CO₂ scare? They only want to kill coal, which is cheaper, but emits twice as much CO₂ for the same energy output as hydrocarbons. Once that goal is attained, they can raise their prices at will. At least until their first victim, nuclear energy, resurrects.
You can ask Tetra Tech what they think of Dana’s activities here – http://www.tetratech.com/about/contact-us.html
Just as I predicted earlier this year. I knew it and WUWT needs to cover this horseshit. I knew and said to get ready for new model runs pushing the time scale required from 15 years to 20, 25 or more years to buy themselves more time. Well here it finally is! All you need do is press enter and voila, 25 years. Get ready for 30 years or more if this also fails. Sheesh!
Thanks to commenters upstream.
What a hypocrite – Nuccitellis angst over big oil is just venting his frustration at a job he hates.