In 2007, several prominent climate denial scientists published a non-peer reviewed article (Dyck, Soon et al, 2007 “Polar bears of western Hudson Bay and climate change: Are warming spring air temperatures the "ultimate" survival control factor?”), concluding that polar bears are not being threatened by anthropogenic global warming. One of the paper’s authors, Dr. Willie Soon, disclosed in the acknowledgments section that he had received direct corporate funding for the work, stating “W. Soon’s effort for the completion of this paper was partially supported by grants from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, American Petroleum Institute, and Exxon-Mobil Corporation.” (Exxon grants to Soon’s organization are detailed below. The exact amount received from the Koch foundation was not found on its 990 forms. The American Petroleum Institute does not disclose the multiple grants it has made to such climate denial organizations over the years.)
The paper, which did not include any new scientific research,
but drew from other published work, appeared in the journal
Ecological Complexity as a "Viewpoint" piece. This article
declared Arctic sea ice decline was less severe than recent
well-founded conclusions in peer-reviewed literature. The authors
question the climate science of Arctic warming and the scientific
modeling that indicates climate change as a threat to polar bear
populations. Leading polar bear and Arctic ice scientists
criticized the article for containing "no new research" and drawing
erroneous conclusions from existing research.
Two polar bear experts, Dr. Ian Stirling and Dr. Andrew Derocher, published a response to
the paper, stating that the 2007 article did not adequately support
the claim that non-climate factors were causing the polar bear
population decline. Stirling and Deroucher wrote, "[The article's
authors] …suggest that factors other than climate warming are
responsible for a decline in the polar bear population of Western
Hudson Bay… In our examination of their alternative explanations,
and the data available to evaluate each, we found little support
for any."
Oil interests and their allies likely realize that polar bear
protections might hinder oil exploration in the Arctic. In
addition, because polar bear decline is an iconic symbol of the
climate crisis, undermining the scientific proof of polar bears in
peril would potentially delay overall climate policy measures that
will reduce oil consumption.
The co-authors of the paper include long time climate deniers:
Sallie
Baliunas, David
Legates and Tim Ball. Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas have
a documented history of receiving money from oil interests.
ExxonMobil Foundation tax records and company documents confirm a
series of grants to the Center for Astrophysics, which employs both
Soon and Baliunas. In 2008, ExxonMobil contributed $76,106 to Soon
and Baliunas' institute, the Smithsonian Astrophysics Observatory,
with funding totaling over $340,000 in four grants since 2005.
Soon and Baliunas were the authors of another controversial climate "junk science" report in
2003, funded by the American Petroleum Institute. The paper, "Lessons & Limits of Climate History: Was the
20th Century Climate Unusual?", published by another
industry-funded think tank, the George Marshall Institute,
attacked the research of climate scientist Michael Mann, who has
also been a prominent target in the "Climategate" controversy
detailed above. Soon, Baliunas and Legates teamed up on a version
of the same paper, published in a small journal Climate Research,
which generated such an uproar that the Editor in Chief and several
others resigned in protest. Both Soon and Baliunas have been
associated as spokespeople, advisors and board members of multiple
Koch-funded climate denial groups over the past decade.
The 2007 polar bear junk science paper prompted a letter to ExxonMobil from North Carolina
Representative Brad Miller, Chair of the US House Subcommittee
on Investigations and Oversight, which raised a key question about
Exxon's funding, which could well have been asked of Koch and
API:
"To people outside the scientific community, one PhD
may seem like another. Certainly Exxon knows better, however. Yet
according to Dr Soon, an astrophysicist by profession, ExxonMobil
funded the development of his "opinions" on global warming and its
potential impact on polar bear populations…The Congress and the
Public have a right to know why ExxonMobil is funding a scientist
whose writing is outside his area of expertise to create the
impression that expert scientists have conducted vigorous, peer
reviewed work that says the problems with polar bears [and climate
change] are unproven or unserious."
Exxon responded, denying responsibility for
Soon's research and claiming that the paper had undergone a
"lengthy peer review process."
The Koch-funded climate denial groups kicked into gear before
the paper was published. Regardless of the non-peer reviewed status
of the Ecological Complexity paper, it gave the appearance
of a peer reviewed paper. Multiple Koch- and Exxon-funded groups
rebroadcast the story through their websites and other media
outlets, emphasizing the paper and its 'findings' that polar bears
are not endangered by climate change. When the Bush Administration
was forced to consider listing the polar bear under the Endangered
Species Act (by a lawsuit brought by Greenpeace and other
environmental groups), Sarah Palin and her officers in the Alaskan
government referenced the 2007 Dyck, Soon et al. polar bear
paper in its formal protest of government action to protect the
polar bear, before the paper was even published.
Additional Koch-funded groups and industry groups threatened to
sue the Federal government for listing the polar bear under the
Endangered Species Act, including the American
Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and National Association of Manufacturers.