(July 17, 2006): Utility Companies Raise Money for Scientist Who Disputes Consensus Opinion on Global Warming

The Intermountain Rural Electric Association (IREA) of Sedalia, Colorado, gives Patrick Michaels, a climatologist who disputes the consensus opinion that greenhouses gases are responsible for global warming, $100,000 and helps launch a fundraising campaign for him. Michaels had told Western business leaders the year before that he needed more funds to continue his research and writing. In a July 17 letter to 50 other utility companies, Stanley Lewandowski, IREA’s general manager, writes, “We cannot allow the discussion to be monopolized by the alarmists.” He requests that the other electric cooperatives collaborate on a campaign to discredit “alarmist” scientists and Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth. According to Lewandowski, one company has said it will contribute $50,000 to Michaels, while another plans to give money the following year. [Associated Press, 7/27/2006]