Bitter Legal Fight Between Climate Deniers Ends With $630,000 Transfer to New Group Targeting Climate Scientists and Campaigners

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A bitter court battle between climate science deniers known for pursuing scientists with legal demands for their emails has ended with a former Trump EPA official releasing $630,000 to his formerย colleagues.

A dispute over the assets, legal status and ultimate control of the Free Market Environmental Law Clinic (FMELC) began in late 2017, sparking two lawsuits against the clinicโ€™s co-founder, David Schnare.

Schnare and former FMELC colleague Christopher Horner have worked together, sometimes through another group, the Energy & Environment Legal Institute (EELI), to file multiple requests for the emails of scientists and state and federal officials working on climateย change.

Both Schnare and Horner, who is a senior fellow at the fossil fuel-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute, were part of Trumpโ€™s EPA โ€œlanding team.โ€ย Schnare went on to join a โ€œbeachheadโ€ EPA team, but quit during former administrator Scott Pruittโ€™s tenure.

But Schnare and Hornerโ€™s relationship turned very sour. Schnare had admitted to making mistakes when incorporating the group after new board member Matthew Hardin, an associate of Hornerโ€™s, had asked to see FMELCโ€™s bankingย information.

In two suits that followed, Schnare was accused of financial misconduct, of trying to conceal the groupโ€™s financial history, and then of demanding payments in return for stayingย quiet.

Schnare denied all of the allegations, both publicly and in responses put before theย courts.

But now DeSmog can reveal that all cases have been closed, after it was agreed Schnare would release $630,000 to Horner and Hardinโ€™s new venture called Government Accountability and Oversight โ€” a group that pursues the same targets, with a further focus on climate change campaigners andย lawyers.

DeSmog contributor John Mashey first obtained the court documents showing theย settlement.

In an email, Schnare told DeSmog the dispute was now closed, but claimed the settlement had โ€œmemorializedโ€ his denials, which he claimed had not beenย disputed.

He added the settlement, finalized in August but being reported here for the first time, came after he threatened to challenge in court the allegations againstย him.

โ€œThey (the allegations) were without foundation.ย Horner et al settled because we were about to go before a judge and document that none of them were true.ย Basically, we let him off theย hook.โ€

โ€œThis case is an example of what happens to a law partnership when the partners end up unhappy with each other.ย No one at FME Law wanted to work with Horner any longer.ย So, we let him go and gave him some of the capital so he could start over on his own,โ€ Schnare toldย DeSmog.

โ€œFME Law is finishing up its current caseload and then will close, the remainder of us either retiring or going on to newย opportunities.โ€

Hardin disputes Schnareโ€™s version of events. Hardin is currently the elected Republican district attorney for Greene County, Virginia, a role known in Virginia as theย Commonwealth Attorney.

Responding to Schnareโ€™s statement, Hardin told DeSmog in an email the two lawsuits brought by the FMELC board โ€œaccurately detail whatย happened.โ€

He wrote: โ€œMr. Schnare’s settlement was to get out from under those suits. His comments to you seem to bear no relation to either the suits or theย settlement.โ€

Hardin also revealed that on January 27, 2018, he had written to Virginiaโ€™s Attorney General Mark Herring and an investigator at Virginiaโ€™s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, inviting them to investigate โ€œgoverning board irregularities, and possible extortionโ€ at FMELC.ย This came, according to Hardinโ€™s letter, after Schnare had himself threatened to complain to the Virginia Attorney General, who is aย Democrat.

In documents provided to DeSmog, Hardin also revealed he had requested the IRS investigate FMELC and showed copies of the IRS referral and the letter to authorities inย Virginia.

Hardin said he was not aware if any of the authorities had taken any further action, โ€œbut I didnโ€™t expect to hear anything,โ€ heย added.

Horner did not respond to questions. Horner has previously avoided questions from DeSmog about his coalย funding.

In one of the civil cases, now closed, Hardin, as chairman of FMELCโ€™s board, had sued Schnare for $1 million, alleging he had badly botched the process of incorporating FMELC as a 501(c)(3) when it was first formed inย 2011.

Schnare, it was alleged, had refused to let anyone view FMELCโ€™s financial history, and had asked for a payout from the group with a promise to โ€œkeep thingsย quiet.โ€

In an email to Horner, revealed by The New York Times, Schnare said he had made โ€œsome significant errors when preparing the by-laws and related papersโ€ for FMELC.

โ€œI admit I don’t know what exactly is wrong or how best to fix the matter,โ€ Schnare wrote in the December 2017ย email.

When several coal companies filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and 2016, it was revealed that FMELC, EELI, and Horner had all received funding from those struggling fossil fuel companies, including Alpha Natural Resources, Arch Coal, and Peabodyย Energy.

Scientists targeted by Horner and Schnareโ€™s efforts include Penn State Universityโ€™s Professor Michael Mann, Dr. James Hansen, NASAโ€™s Gavin Schmidt, Texas Tech Universityโ€™s Professor Katherine Hayhoe and Texasย A&M Universityโ€™s Professorย Andrewย Dessler.

Lauren Kurtz, executive director of the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, a group supporting scientists that have been targeted, told DeSmog: โ€œThe recent court cases against Schnare and FMELC show that they have sought to avoid even basic levels of accountability, all the while making careers out of subjecting scientists to bogus fishing expeditions in the name ofย ‘transparency.’โ€

Main image: Christ Horner, left, and David Schnare,ย right.

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