Textos de referencia:
Matthew L. Wald – Pro-Coal Ad Campaign Disputes Warming Idea – The New York Times, 08/07/1991 – http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/08/business/pro-coal-ad-campaign-disputes-warming-idea.html
“Coal-burning utility companies and coal producers, disturbed by public acceptance of the idea that burning fossil fuels will change the climate, are deciding whether to go national this fall with an ad campaign they tried in three markets earlier this year. The advertising effort was tried out in Flagstaff, Ariz.; Fargo, N.D., and Bowling Green, Ky. The campaign produced nearly 2,000 requests to a toll-free telephone line for more information, said Gale Klappa, a vice president of the Southern Company, a coal-using utility based in Atlanta.”
John H. Cushman Jr. – Industrial Group Plans to Battle Climate Treaty – The New York Times, 26/04/1998 – http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/26/us/industrial-group-plans-to-battle-climate-treaty.html
“The document listed representatives of the Exxon Corporation, the Chevron Corporation and the Southern Company as being involved. Representatives of Chevron and Southern acknowledged attending meetings on the project; the Exxon representative could not be reached for comment. The draft plan calls for recruiting scientists to argue against the Administration, and suggests that they include »individuals who do not have a long history of visibility and/or participation in the climate change debate.”
Ross Gelbspan (2005) – Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists and Activists Are Fueling the Climate Crisis And What We Can Do to Avert Disaster – Basic Books – ISBN-13: 978-0465027620 – 288 Págs.
“The Global Climate Coalition had represented more than 6 million businesses – including, among others, the American Highway Users Alliance, the American Petroleum Institute, the Edison Electric Institute, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the National Minig Association. Under pressure of activists, British Petroleum and Shell left the coalition in 1999 … They were followed shortly thereafter by Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, Texaco, the Southern Company, and General Motors.”
Felicity Barringer – Flooded Village Files Suit, Citing Corporate Link to Climate Change – The New York Times, 27/02/2008 – http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/us/27alaska.html
“The suit is the latest effort to hold companies like BP America, Chevron, Peabody Energy, Duke Energy and the Southern Company responsible for the impact of global warming.”
Stephan Faris – Conspiracy Theory – The Atlantic, 01/06/2008 – http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/06/conspiracy-theory/6812/
“In February, Berman and Susman—along with two attorneys who have previously worked on behalf of the village, and Matt Pawa, an environmental lawyer specializing in global warming—filed suit in federal court against 24 oil, coal, and electric companies, claiming that their emissions are partially responsible for the coastal destruction in Kivalina. More important, the suit also accuses eight of the firms (American Electric Power, BP America, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Duke Energy, ExxonMobil, Peabody Energy, and Southern Company) of conspiring to cover up the threat of man-made climate change, in much the same way the tobacco industry tried to conceal the risks of smoking—by using a series of think tanks and other organizations to falsely sow public doubt in an emerging scientific consensus. This second charge arguably eliminates the need for a judge to determine how much greenhouse-gas production—from refining fossil fuel and burning it to produce energy—is acceptable. “You’re not asking the court to evaluate the reasonableness of the conduct,” Berman says. “You’re asking a court to evaluate if somebody conspired to lie.”
Curtis A. Moore (2008) – Killing Kyoto – Curtis A. Moore, 01/10/2008 – Basel Action Network – Former counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works from 1978 to 1989 – http://curtismoore.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/killing-kyoto.pdf
“Pearlman operates out of Patton, Boggs and Blow, one of Washington’s premier law/lobbying firms. He refuses to reveal his clients, but they must include the Southern Company, a major coal-burning electric utility, because Pearlman is almost invariably accompanied by one of its officials on his numerous foreign trips. According to its IRS charter, the Council’s purpose is to represent U.S.-based energy companies “whose business could be adversely affected by laws related to potential global climate change.”
U.S. power company and utility lobbyists 2008 and 2009 – Sourcewatch, 18/09/2009 – http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S._power_company_and_utility_lobbyists_2008_and_2009_-_Top_Ten_Generators
“1. Ameren; 2. American Electric Power; 3. Dominion; 4. Duke Energy; 5. E.ON U.S.; 6. MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company; 7. Edison International; 8. NRG Energy; 9. Southern Company; 10. Xcel Energy.”
Curtis A. Moore (2009) – A Package for Copenhagen: Existing Authorities in the United States for Responding to Global Warming – Curtis A. Moore, 10/11/2009 – Basel Action Network – Former counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works from 1978 to 1989 – http://healthandcleanair.org/newsletters/HCA_fall09.pdf
“One method the institute would employ to measure the plan’s progress would be to count the number of news reports that express uncertainty about the issue of global warming. People involved in devising the strategy included Jeffrey Salmon of the George C. Marshall Institute; Steven Milloy, who later becomes a FoxNews.com columnist; David Rothbard of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, which has received $252,000 from ExxonMobil; Myron Ebell of Frontiers of Freedom, also funded with money ($612,000) from the oil giant; and ExxonMobil lobbyist Randy Randol. Representatives of the Exxon Corporation, the Chevron Corporation, and the Southern Company, were also involved. [American Petroleum Institute, 4/1998; New York Times, 4/26/1998; Mother Jones, 5/2005].”
Global Climate Science Communications Plan (1998) – Sourcewatch , 02/01/2010 – http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Global_Climate_Science_Communications_Plan_%281998%29
“The memo, written by the American Petroleum Institute‘s Joe Walker, named the following members as having contributed to the development of the plan: A. John Adams, John Adams Associates; Candace Crandall, Science and Environmental Policy Project; (Crandall’s involvement was subsequently disputed) David Rothbard, Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow; Jeffrey Salmon, The Marshall Institute; Lee Garrigan, Environmental Issues Council; Lynn Bouchey and Myron Ebell, Frontiers of Freedom; Peter Cleary, Americans for Tax Reform; Randy Randol, Exxon Corp.; Robert Gehri, The Southern Company; Sharon Kneiss, Chevron Corp; Steve Milloy, The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition; Joseph Walker, American Petroleum Institute.”
Juliet Eilperin – Murkowski and her lobbyist allies – Post Carbon The Washington Post, 20/01/2010 – http://views.washingtonpost.com/climate-change/post-carbon/2010/01/murkowski_and_her_lobbyist_allies.html
“Holmstead represents industry interests including Southern Company, Duke Energy, Progress Energy and the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council on climate matters, according to congressional lobbying registration forms, while Martella represents the National Alliance of Forest Owners and the Alliance of Food Associations on the same subject.”
Case Study: Dr. Willie Soon, a Career Fueled by Big Oil and Coal – Greenpeace USA, 01/10/2011 – http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/CASE-STUDY-Dr-Willie-Soon-a-Career-Fueled-by-Big-Oil-and-Coal/
“Southern Company is new to the list of known funders of Willie Soon. Our FOIA request to Smithsonian revealed that Southern Company, the giant coal burning utility, gave Dr. Soon two grants: $110,000 in 2005-06 for «Understanding Arctic Climate Change» and $120,000 in 2008-09 for «Solar variability and climate change signals from temperature,» areas of research that Southern Company appears to have a keen interest in. This funding and relationship with Southern and EPRI might explain Dr. Soon’s «expertise» in mercury (see below), as the EPA finalizes overdue rules on mercury emissions from coal-fired power stations. Oil burning does not result in mercury emissions, but coal burning does.”
Mareike Britten et al (Eds.) (2011) – Who’s holding us back? – Greenpeace, 23/11/2011 – http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/reports/Whos-holding-us-back/
“In the US alone, approximately $3.5 bn is invested annually in lobbying activities at the federal level.6 The US Chamber of Commerce tops the list of lobbyists.7 In recent years, Royal Dutch Shell, the US Chamber of Commerce, Edison Electric Institute, PG&E, Southern Company, ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP and ConocoPhillips all made the top 20 list of lobbyists.8 The climate campaign organisation 350.org estimates that 94% of US Chamber of Commerce contributions went to climate denier candidates.”
Sylvan Lane – Senator Ed Markey to investigate energy companies’ funding of bogus climate science studies – The Boston Globe, 21/02/2015 – http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/02/22/senator-edward-markey-investigate-energy-companies-climate-science-funding/Ex1QsGTBrCYRYlZTmruunO/story.html
«Southern Company did not respond to a request for comment.»
Kert Davies – Willie Soon Harvard Smithsonian Documents Reveal Southern Company Scandal – Climate Investigations Center, 21/02/2015 – http://www.climateinvestigations.org/willie-soon-harvard-smithsonian-documents-reveal-southern-company-scandal
“This post will be updated as this investigation proceeds… Just wanted to get something up tonight…and since the stories were supposed to be embargoed for midnight…alas…(btw, it is amazing how many folks are jamming on the web on a Saturday…not a bad news day after all.)”
Suzanne Goldenberg – Work of prominent climate change denier Willie Soon was funded by energy industry – The Guardian, 21/02/2015 – http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/21/climate-change-denier-willie-soon-funded-energy-industry
“Over the last 14 years Willie Soon, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, received a total of $1.25 million from ExxonMobil, Southern Company, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and a foundation run by the ultra-conservative Koch brothers, the documents obtained by Greenpeace through freedom of information filings show.”
Ryan Koronowski – Climate Deniers’ Favorite Scientist Quietly Took Money From The Fossil Fuel Industry – Climate Progressn 22/02/2015 – http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/02/22/3625629/willie-soon-fossil-fuel-money/
“That Soon has received funding from the fossil fuel industry has been known for sometime, however these documents reveal the scope of the largesse that enabled him to publish what he did, and helps illuminate the quid pro quo nature of the relationship. According to the documents, Soon received at least: $409,000 from Southern Company, a huge utility company whose giant coal plants regularly top the list of largest greenhouse gas emitters in the country $274,000 from the nation’s main oil and gas lobby, the American Petroleum Institute $335,000 from ExxonMobil, though the oil giant stopped funding Soon in 2010 despite stopped funding Soon in 2010 $230,000 from the Charles G. Koch Foundation, a billionaire whose money has been made mostly through oil refining $324,000 from anonymous donations via Donors Trust, a fund set up to funnel money from the Koch brothers and other conservative funders to groups that promote climate science denial like the Heartland Institute and Americans for Prosperity In many cases he referred to scientific papers or congressional testimony as “deliverables” in correspondence with his funders.”
William M. Connolley – The funding entities, regardless of their affiliation, have no influence on the research – Stoat, 22/02/2015 – http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2015/02/22/the-funding-entities-regardless-of-their-affiliation-have-no-influence-on-the-research/
“Or so says Christine Pulliam, a spokeswoman for the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. And yet we discover that Soon’s research was (partially) funded by Southern Company Services, with whom Soon had an agreement, signed by Smithsonian’s William J. Ford, contract and grant specialist; and Bryan Baldwin, Southern’s manager of environmental assessment.:…”
Kate Sheppard – Senator Calls For Investigation Into The Climate Change ‘Denial-For-Hire Scheme’ – The Huffington Post, 23/02/2015 – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/23/willie-soon-_n_6736656.html
“The New York Times reported this weekend on documents that Greenpeace obtained under the Freedom of Information Act that show that Wei-Hock Soon, known as Willie, has accepted funding from Southern Company, Exxon Mobil, the American Petroleum Institute and the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation.”
Graham Readfearn – Was Climate Science Denialist Willie Soon Funded To Do Science Or Was It Just PR Cash From The Fossil Fuel Industry? – Desmogblog, 01/03/2015 – http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/03/01/was-climate-science-denialist-willie-soon-funded-do-science-or-was-it-just-pr-cash-fossil-fuel-industry
“While it’s been known for several years that Soon was being funded heavily by the fossil fuel industry, the current outcry centres on the disclosure of that funding to the journals who have run his research. Inside Climate News has a summary of the 11 scientific papers where Soon had described his studies as “deliverables” to his funders – in those cases coal utility Southern Company and conservative funding arm Donors Trust. On most occasions, the fossil fuel funding was not disclosed.”
Peter Dykstra – Doubling down on doubt – Environmental Health News/The Daily Climate, 05/03/2015 – http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2015/mar/willie-soon-climate-denial-science-conservative-politics
“Soon crossed what most scientists believe are several inviolable ethical lines. While academia doesn’t generally disdain funding from parties who may have an economic or ideological stake in the outcome, transparency is key. Soon, via his unpaid climate-related research with the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, failed to reveal on multiple papers that his climate change-related publications were largely bankrolled by Exxon Mobil, Southern Company, and the Charles Koch Foundation. He also gushed about how the results would please prospective funders. «I have a big super-duper paper soon to be accepted on how the sun affects the climate system,” he wrote to a Southern Company sponsor. Southern is the biggest electric utility in the Southeast U.S., is heavily coal-dependent, and clearly would have something to gain should a scientific paper throw the sun under the bus for what the vast majority of scientists believe to be fossil fuel-driven climate change.”
Kert Davies – Southern Company Dumps Climate Denier Willie Soon – Climate Investigations Center, 07/04/2015 – http://www.climateinvestigations.org/southern-company-dumps-climate-denier-willie-soon
“The Washington Post broke the news yesterday that Southern Company confirmed it is dropping the contract with Dr. Willie Soon at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. But not immediately…at the end of the current 2015 contract. Southern Co. has not issued a public statement or explanation, only sparse email responses to reporters.”
David Hasemyer – Utility Giant Cuts Ties With Willie Soon – Inside Climate News, 07/04/2015 – http://insideclimatenews.org/news/07042015/utility-giant-cuts-ties-willie-soon-southern-company-coal-climate-change-skeptic-contrarian
“Coal utility Southern Company has funded five of Willie Soon‘s research projects for a total of $469,560 since 2005. The company has confirmed that it will longer finance Soon’s work, which promotes the discredited theory that the sun is a primary driver of climate change.”
Lester Brown – The Accelerating Transition Away from Fossil Fuels – The Globalist, 03/05/2015 – http://www.theglobalist.com/the-accelerating-transition-away-from-fossil-fuels/
“The commitment of several billionaires to carbon-free energy is a promising driver of the energy transition. Warren Buffett, the wealthiest member of this group, had invested some $15 billion in the development of solar and wind energy by early 2014. This includes a giant solar complex in California that is now tied for the title of the world’s largest. In June 2014, Buffett announced, “There’s another $15 billion ready to go.” Also investing in energy from the sun is Ted Turner, who has teamed up with Southern Power — a subsidiary of the coal-heavy energy firm Southern Company — to acquire seven solar power plants. Turner is also looking at the potential for investing in wind. Denver-based Philip Anschutz, who made billions in oil and gas, is committed to the construction of a 3,000-megawatt wind farm in south-central Wyoming and also to building a transmission line that will carry wind-generated electricity over 700 miles to California, Arizona, and Nevada. For wind developers in Wyoming, a state with a wealth of wind resources but only 580,000 people, California’s 38 million residents represent a very attractive market.”
Ben Jervey and Steve Horn – Heritage Foundation’s Climate and Energy Policy Summit: Science Deniers Emboldened by Trump’s Electoral Victory – Desmogblog, 08/12/2016 – https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/12/08/heritage-foundation-s-climate-and-energy-policy-summit-science-deniers-emboldened-trump-s-electoral-victory
“Willie Soon, Astrophysicist Soon spoke first on a panel called “Climate Intimidation: Chilling Climate Science.” He played the role of victim for having been revealed by The New York Times for taking money from the likes of Southern Company, ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute, and Koch Industries for his part-time research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He was speaking as an independent scientist at this event. Introduced as the “leading authority” on the association between solar activity and Earth’s climate, Soon said, as of late he has been “living under the dark cloud of censorship and intimidation.” He also spoke of Greenpeace USA, which obtained his emails through the Freedom of Information Act, which was at the center of The Times’ investigation. It is “unfortunate” they released emails but “I had nothing to hide,” he claimed, saying his motto was to “forgive all the bad people. But never forget.” Soon had some choice words for another of his antagonists, Peter Gleick — who leaked to DeSmog the Heartland Institute documents revealing its strategy to cast doubt on climate science: “Such a disgraceful guy who actually used a stolen Identity in order to get private documents.” He concluded his remarks by talking about what Trump’s electoral win could mean for him and his (very few) fellow climate change denying scientists.” “Climate science as we know it has been dangerously corrupted by … these bullies of censorship,” he said. “They continue to hijack science for their own game. We must do something about this. Hopefully with a political win we can do something about this.”
Sharon Kelly – Southern Co. Suspends Kemper «Clean Coal» Project, Warns Investors It May Recognize Losses up to $3.4 Billion – Desmogblog, 28/06/2017 – https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/28/breaking-southern-co-officially-yanks-plug-kemper-clean-coal-power-plant-warns-it-may-recognize-loss-3-4-billion
“In a major blow to proponents of “clean coal” technology, Southern Co., parent company of Mississippi Power, announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing today that it’s throwing in the towel on efforts to generate electricity from coal and will instead use only natural gas at its flagship Kemper County, Mississippi power plant. The project, which relied on a “gasifier” to turn a cheap and common grade of coal into fuel, is over, at least for now, Southern said. “On June 28, 2017, Mississippi Power notified the Mississippi PSC that it is beginning a process to suspend operations and start-up activities on the gasifier portion of the Kemper IGCC.” Further, Southern warned that it may record a $3.4 billion loss for the project in the second quarter of 2017, depending on how negotiations with state utility regulators unfold. If “Mississippi Power does not ultimately obtain rate recovery of the $3.4 billion … , Southern Company and Mississippi Power would be required to recognize a charge to income in the second quarter of 2017 for those unrecovered costs, in addition to any other costs required to be incurred,” the SEC filing says. ”
Sharon Kelly – New Fraud Allegations Emerge at Troubled ‘Clean Coal’ Project As Southern Co. Records Multi-Billion Loss – Desmogblog, 08/08/2017 – https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/08/08/southern-company-fraud-allegations-kemper-clean-coal-project
“Southern Co. is accused of fraudulently misrepresenting the prospects for its troubled “clean coal” project in Kemper County, Mississippi in several legal filings this summer. Southern announced in late July that it was shuttering the troubled “clean coal” part of Kemper after construction ran years behind schedule and the company spent $7.5 billion on the 582 megawatt power plant — over $5 billion more than it first projected. In a lawsuit filed today, Brett Wingo, a former Southern Company engineer, alleges he warned the company’s top executives that it would not be possible to meet key construction deadlines. Management responded by retaliating against him, the complaint asserts, and Southern continued to assure investors and the public that Kemper’s schedule and budget targets would be met, then blamed unpredictable factors like the weather when those goals were missed. Wingo’s claim that Southern misled investors by concealing construction-related problems drew national attention in a front page New York Times investigation last year. In January, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) concluded that Wingo had suffered a “continuing pattern of retaliatory treatment” and ordered Southern to reinstate Wingo, but the company has refused, according to a statement accompanying the lawsuit. (The case is “Brett Wingo v. The Southern Company, et al.,” Case No. 2:17-cv-01328-MHH in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Southern Division.) A second less-noticed legal filing with Mississippi state regulators accuses Southern of misrepresenting Kemper’s prospects right from the outset, before construction even began. Those claims center on Southern’s projections for what it would cost to operate and maintain the plant once it was up and running, which the filing asserts were so low they were “indefensible”. In an email to DeSmog, Wingo seconds those claims, saying that he believes management knew back in 2012 that its “operation and maintenance” (O&M) projections were off — but kept the accurate numbers under wraps for years. ”
ExxonMobil Helps Form ‘Global Climate Science Team’ – History Commons – http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=global_warming_tmln_1#global_warming_tmln_1
“People involved in devising the strategy included Jeffrey Salmon of the George C. Marshall Institute; Steven Milloy, who later becomes a FoxNews.com columnist; David Rothbard of the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, which has received $252,000 from ExxonMobil; Myron Ebelll of Frontiers of Freedom, also funded with money ($612,000) from the oil giant; and ExxonMobil lobbyist Randy Randol. Representatives of the Exxon Corporation, the Chevron Corporation, and the Southern Company, were also involved.”
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