Canadaโs libertarian think-tank, the Fraser Institute, has a knack for providing excellent PR and advocacy services for the oil industry in Canada.ย That might be because they practically are the oilย industry.ย
Out of 47 directors, 9 can be clearly linked to the oil, gas and coal industries.ย Since Canadian oil companies extract dirty tar sands, which have a much larger environmental impact and carbon footprint than run-of-the-mill dirty oil, the industry relies on top-notch spin to massage its image in the publicย eye.ย
Here are some of the oil celebrities riding Fraserโs anti-regulationย bandwagon:
William (Bill) Siebens founded Siebens Oil and Gas Ltd in the 1950s and is still at it.ย His lifetime of extracting fossil fuels earned him a spot in the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame.
Roger Phillips sits on the board of directors of Imperial Oil, Canadaโs largest oil company.ย Imperial is 70% owned by ExxonMobil and has a 25% stake in Syncrude Canada, the largest producer of oil from tarย sands.
John Dielwart is the president and CEO of Arc Energy Trusts, one of Canadaโs largest conventional oil and gas royaltyย trusts.
Paul Hill is the president and CEO of the Hill Companies.ย According to his bio, โhe is a past director of Canada Trust, North Canadian Oils Ltd., Shopping.com, US Forest Industries, the Canadian Forces Liaison Committee and the Asia Pacific Foundation to name a few. He is a member of the World Presidents and Chief Executivesย Organizations.โ
Gwyn Morgan is a current director and former President and CEO of EnCana Corporation, one of North Americaโs largest natural gas producers.ย Morgan has been described as one of the most powerful men in the oil patch and spent his lifetime building an oil empire inย Alberta.
Herbert Pinder, another current director of ARC Resources, also serves as director for โa number of private energy companies,โ according to his ARC Energy Trusts bio.
Also on Fraserโs board are Charles Barlow of gas exploration company Barlow Brothers Ltd;ย R. Jack Pirie who is associated with private oil company Sabre Energy Ltd.; and John Hagg, CEO of tar sands extractor Northstarย Energy.
With a line-up like this, the lesser known Fraser Institute ranks right up there with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Cato Institute and other right wing think tanks supported by dirty energy industries to fuel public doubt about climate change.ย Fraser staffers are adept at cherry picking data to create the appearance of scientific research, and then using their PR resources to influence publicย opinion.
According to the companyโs annual report, the Fraser Institute received $120,000 from ExxonMobil in 2003-โ04.ย Fraser Institute Foundation President Michael Walker said the funding paid for the work of researcher Kenneth Green, who served as chief scientist at Fraser Institute between 2002-2005.ย Kenneth Green now resides at the American Enterprise Institute as one of its chief climate deniers inย residence.
Other Fraser misdeeds include targeting Canadian high school students and teachers with global warming misinformation, as Bill Miller wrote on Desmogblog in March of 2008.ย Fraser designed a booklet for high schoolers allegedly aimed at โhelping them understand the issue and make their own decisions about what actions are neededโ on global warming.ย โThe manuscript was compiled by rookie scientists and retirees with strong ties to oil and gas pressure groups,โ Millerย wrote.
Fraser is also a supporter of Canadaโs leading climate skeptics.ย Ross McKitrick is a senior scholar at Fraser, and is well known for his efforts teaming up with mining executive Steve McIntyre to attack climate science.ย (The minor mistakes pointed out by McIntyre and McKitrick have been acknowledged and corrected by climate scientists, but their PR efforts continueย unabated.)
For a full list of the businesspeople represented on the board of the Fraser Institute, as well as some of their operating procedures, check out the excellent research done by Norman Farrell at Northern Insights.
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