The
Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI) is a
global warming skeptics group which appears to primarily be the work of
Robert Ferguson, its President;
its website draws heavily on papers written by Christopher Monckton. SPPI describes itself as "a nonprofit institute of research and education dedicated to sound public policy based on sound science." It also proclaims that it is "free from affiliation to any corporation or political party, we support the advancement of sensible public policies for energy and the environment rooted in rational science and economics. Only through science and factual information, separating reality from rhetoric, can legislators develop beneficial policies without unintended consequences that might threaten the life, liberty, and prosperity of the citizenry."
[1]
Background
Ferguson
Prior to founding SPPI in approximately mid-2007, Ferguson was the Executive Director of the
Center for Science and Public Policy (CSPP), a project of the corporate-funded group, the
Frontiers of Freedom Institute.
Between March 4, 2005 and May 10, 2006 Ferguson edited a weekly bulletin titled
Climate Weekly, then
Climate and Environment Weekly and finally
Climate and Environment Review, which was published by the
Center for Science and Public Policy.
[2][3]
Origin of SPPI
The initial media release of the Institute appears to have been issued on June 1, 2007. The release -- supporting the statements made by the then NASA Administrator
Michael Griffin questioning global warming -- also listed
Harriette Johnson from the Chicago-based think thank, the
Heartland Institute as a media contact.
[4]
From mid-July 2007 SPPI began publishing
SPPI eWire, which is identical in content style to CSPP's
Climate Weekly,
Climate and Environment Weekly and
Climate and Environment Review.
[5] (SPPI is in the same building as CSPP, though in different offices - SPPI at Suite 299).
[6] and CPPR at Suite 2100.
[7]
SPPI name
Ferguson founded and named this group approximately eight years after
George L. Carlo had founded the identically-named, pro-public-health
Science and Public Policy Institute, to work on issues such as electro-magnetic radiation and health issues.
Ferguson states he was oblivious to the existence of Carlo's group, and that it was only after registering his organization in Virginia that he discovered Carlo's group existed, but by then his group had created the website and printed their stationery.
[8]
Funding
On its website SPPI does not detail the sources of its funding or outline its approach to disclosure.
Personnel
While the SPPI seems primarily to be the work of Ferguson, it also features on it website the work of other prominent climate change skeptics who are involved with one or more other anti-Kyoto treaty groups.
The SPPI website lists its "personnel" as being
[9]:
