New Hope Environmental Services (NHES)

Background

New Hope Environmental Services, Inc. (NHES) was a consulting firm founded in 1994/1995 by Patrick Michaels. NHES described itself as an “advocacy science consulting firm that produces cutting-edge research and informed commentary on the nature of climate.” Michaels is also director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute. [1], [2]

According to information on file at the Virginia SCC, New Hope Environmental Services registered as a corporation on March 16, 1995, and its current status is “terminated.” [3]

An archived description on the NHES website as of 2009 read as follows (NHES.com no longer appears in operation): [1]

“New Hope Environmental Services is an advocacy science consulting firm that produces cutting-edge research and informed commentary on the nature of climate, including patterns of climate change, U.S. and international environmental policy, seasonal and long-range forecasting targeted to user needs, and the relation between the earth’s atmosphere and biology. The company also consults on legal matters related to weather and climate.” [1]

In an affidavit, Michaels described the firm’s purpose as to “publicize findings on climate change and scientific and social perspectives that may not otherwise appear in the popular literature or media. This entails both response research and public commentary.” [4]

SourceWatch describes New Hope Environmental Services as “in effect […] a PR firm.” New Hope is secretive about its funding sources, and fought a Greenpeace motion seeking disclosure.  It is known to have received funds from electrical utilities in the past. [5]

New Hope Environmental Services ran a bi-weekly climate change bulletin titled The World Climate Report,  edited by Patrick Michaels and funded by the Western Fuels Association. [6]

Until 1999, www.nhes.com housed World Climate Report, which subsequently redirected to the Greening Earth Society Website as of 2000. The Greening Earth Society is a non-profit created by the Western Fuels Association (WFA) in 1997 to serve as a “a vehicle for advocacy on climate change, the environmental impact of CO2, and fossil fuel use.” Based on website archives, New Hope Environmental Services then used that web domain from 2002 until some time in 2012. [7], [8], [9], [1], [10]

Stance on Climate Change

The World Climate Report regularly promoted the views of climate change deniers in both its print publication and online blog. Below is a sampling of articles at worldclimatereport.com that included the keyword “climate” or “Global Warming” in the title:

• A Classic Tale of Global Warming Alarmism — Oct 05, 2012
• Wild Speculation on Climate and Polar Bears — Jul 26, 2012
• Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and High Climate Sensitivity — Feb 27, 2012
• “A significant measure of negative feedback to global warming” — Feb 08, 2012
• Will Replicated Global Warming Science Make Mann Go Ape? — Jan 10, 2012
• Winter 2011-12: Global Warming to Blame? — Dec 21, 2011
• A new, lower estimate of climate sensitivity — Nov 08, 2011
• Natural Variability Still Plays Large Role in Winter Climate — Oct 24, 2011
• Riding to the Defense of Climate Models — Sep 16, 2011
• Climate Models Not So Good For Crop Prediction — Aug 15, 2011
• Arctic Species Prefer Warmer Climate? — Jul 15, 2011
• Climate Coup Book Forum — May 04, 2011
• Shale Gas: A Climate Friendly Fossil Fuel? — Apr 29, 2011
• Climate Coup — Apr 20, 2011
• Volcanism Caused by Global Warming? — Mar 14, 2011
• Calling BS on Peter Gleick’s Climate BS Nominees — Jan 07, 2011
• CO2-induced Vegetation Growth Slows Global Warming — Dec 08, 2010
• Another Reason to Love Global Warming: Great Tits Out Earlier in the Year — Dec 07, 2010
• Solar Control on Tibet’s Climate — Jul 15, 2010
• When South is North (aka Let’s Blame Global Warming) — Apr 23, 2010
• Americans’ Global Warming Concerns Continue to Drop — Mar 11, 2010
• Quick Response to Ben Santer’s Comments at RealClimate — Feb 26, 2010
• What’s Happened to Global Warming? — Feb 01, 2010
• WSJ: How to Manufacture a Climate Consensus — Dec 18, 2009
• The Risk of Impacts from Climate Change is Growing — Jul 01, 2009
• Sulfates and Global Warming — Jun 10, 2009
• No Climate Impact from New National Fuel Efficiency Standards — May 20, 2009
• The Waxman-Markey “Climate” Bill Does Nothing for the Climate — May 06, 2009
• What You Can(‘t) Do About Global Warming — Apr 30, 2009
• EPA: Shooting Blanks at Global Warming — Apr 28, 2009
• Climate Models: Better Clouds=Less Warming? — Apr 15, 2009
• The Cato Climate Ad, Joe Romm, and Swanson&Tsonis — Apr 14, 2009
• Has the climate recently shifted? — Apr 08, 2009
• Contrasting Ideas about Climate Change and War — Mar 24, 2009
• Highlights of the 2009 International Conference on Climate Change — Mar 12, 2009
• Feedbacks and Climate Sensitivity — Mar 05, 2009
• Audubon’s Bird-brained Conclusion: More Global Warming Misdirection — Feb 11, 2009
• Climate of Extremes: Global Warming Science They Don’t Want You to Know — Feb 02, 2009
• Global Warming’s Rare Bird? — Jan 12, 2009
• Will the U.N. Chill Out on Climate Change? — Dec 02, 2008
• The Divergence Problem and the Failure of Tree Rings for Reconstructing Past Climate — Oct 23, 2008
• CCSP Climate Impacts Report: A Perversion of Science — Aug 05, 2008
• The Virginia Climate Change Commission and the Mirage of Low Hanging Fruit — Jun 16, 2008
• The Sanctity of Climate Models — Jun 04, 2008
• “Warming Island”—Another Global Warming Myth Exposed — Mar 31, 2008
• Global warming NOT killing frogs (just like we told you) — Mar 25, 2008
• Global Warming: Not So Fast — Feb 21, 2008
• The Big Secret: Climate Bills Result in No Meaningful Impact on Global Temperature — Nov 20, 2007
• Centuries of Yellow River Climate — Nov 13, 2007
• Greenland Climate: Now vs. Then, Part II. Record Greenland Melt Area? — Nov 05, 2007
• Fires Contribute to Global Warming? — Nov 02, 2007
• Greenland Climate: Now vs. Then, Part I. Temperatures — Oct 16, 2007
• Hurricane/Global Warming Link Weakened — Oct 02, 2007
• Climate Carpetbaggers — Sep 21, 2007
• Climate Change Chaos — Aug 17, 2007
• Future Air Pollution Levels and Climate Change: A Step Toward Realism — Aug 10, 2007
• Global Warming Debate Upside-Down: Antarctic Update — Jul 17, 2007
• Actual South American Snow Cover Data Show No Climate Change — May 21, 2007
• The Stop Global Warming College Tour — Apr 20, 2007
• Hurricane/Global Warming Link Weakens Further (not much left) — Apr 19, 2007
• Global Warming and California Agriculture — Apr 02, 2007
• Wildfires: The Results of Cyclic Oceanic Variations or Global Warming? — Mar 27, 2007
• Lower Mortality Thanks to Global Warming? — Mar 14, 2007
• Global Forests Love Global Warming — Jan 04, 2007
• Global Warming Good for Mediterranean Tits? — Dec 12, 2006
• Are Humans Involved in Global Warming? — Dec 01, 2006
• Climate Science Abuzz over Fly Genetics — Sep 11, 2006
• A Sea Change in Global Warming? — Aug 24, 2006
• Corals and Climate Change — Jul 07, 2006
• Supreme Court Warms Up To Climate Change — Jun 30, 2006
• Hurricane/Global Warming Linkage Takes Another Hit — May 26, 2006
• Dialing in your own climate — Apr 10, 2006
• Global Warming Not Featured in New Hurricane Study — Mar 16, 2006
• An Extreme View of Global Warming — Mar 15, 2006
• Jumping To Conclusions: Frogs, Global Warming and Nature (Revised) — Jan 11, 2006
• Overstating Health Impacts of Global Warming — Nov 22, 2005
• Fox Goes Native On Global Warming — Nov 10, 2005
• Hurricanes and Global Warming: Do Not Believe the Hype — Oct 31, 2005
• Global Warming and Hurricanes: Still No Connection — Sep 20, 2005
• Global Warming: Bad for Good and Good for Bad — Aug 09, 2005
• Global Warming and Terrorism — Jul 12, 2005
• Antarctic Ice: A Global Warming Snow Job? — May 27, 2005
• Determining Climate Sensitivity from Volcanoes: Observations vs. Models — May 16, 2005
• Climate Cycle or Climate Psychic? — May 13, 2005
• Global Warming: Something New Under the Sun? — May 10, 2005
• Global Warming: Something to sneeze at? — Apr 29, 2005
• Tsunamis and Global Warming: Who would dare connect them? — Apr 21, 2005
• Climate Perspectives: The Great Early 20th Century Rainy Period in the American West — Apr 08, 2005
• La Niñas and climate warming — Mar 30, 2005
• Reviewer Comments: Extracting a Climate Signal from 169 Glacier Records — Mar 24, 2005
• Comments on the New England Climate Change Report — Mar 16, 2005
• Snowjobs About Weather and Climate — Mar 02, 2005
• Yesteryear’s Climate Catastrophe — Jan 26, 2005
• Climate Model In—Climate Model Out — Sep 23, 2004
• The Predictable Distortion of Climate Change — Aug 17, 2004
• Non-linear Climate Change — Aug 09, 2004

Funding

Refusal to Disclose Funding Sources

Uncovered court documents showed that Michaels withdrew as an expert witness from a Vermont court case after a request was submitted that he reveal his funding sources: [11]

• See Michaels’ Motion to Intervene
• See Michaels’ Affidavit

Michaels said he would testify only if the identities of his funders could be kept secret, Robert McClure at Seattle Post Intelligencer reported and as first revealed at the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Watchdog Tipsheet. [12]

According to Michaels‘ affidavit, some of the companies supporting New Hope would only do so if their funding remained confidential: [4]

“Large companies are understandably adverse to negative publicity. Thus, the global warming controversy has created an environment in which companies who wish to support New Hope’s research and advocacy about global warming science are increasing willing to do so only if their support remains confidential. For this reason, some companies that support New Hope financially do so on the understanding that their support will not be made public,” Michaels said in the affidavit. [4]

Michaels’ lawyer stated: “Public exposure of the funding will therefore result in the loss of some or all of New Hope’s clients,” Michaels’ lawyers told the Vermont court, “leading either to destruction of the business or a significant curtailment of its operations. Since Dr. Michaels and other research scientists obtain a significant portion of their income from New Hope, the damage to New Hope will seriously diminish their livelihoods.”  [4]

Energy Industry Funding Accidentally Made Public

Michaels argued in his affidavit that accidental public disclosure of past supporters “has already caused considerable financial loss to New Hope.” He listed two examples: [4]

“Public disclosure of a company’s funding of New Hope and its employees has already caused considerable financial loss to New Hope,” Michaels said in the Affidavit. “For example, in 2006, TriState Generation & Transmission Association, Inc., an electric utility, had requested that its support of $50,000 to New Hope be held confidential. After this support was inadvertently made public by another New Hope client, Tri-State informed me that it would no longer support New Hope because of adverse publicity. Also in 2006, when a $100,000 contract between New Hope and electric utility Intermountain Rural Electric Association to synthesize and research new findings on global warming became public knowledge, a public campaign was initiated to change the composition of the Intermountain board of directors so that there would be no additional funding. That campaign was successful, as Intermountain has not provided further funding.” [4]

Cato Institute Funding

As reported at PR Watch, the Cato Institute‘s public 990 forms revealed that in 2006 and 2007 Cato had spent $242,900 for the “environmental policy” services of Michaels’ firm. Responding to an email query, Michaels said that the money “largely supported the extensive background research for my 2009 book, ‘Climate of Extremes,’ background research on climate change, mainly in the areas of ice melt and temperature histories, and background research required for invited lectures around the world.” [13]

Key People

The New Hope Environmental Services website did not disclose the names of its staff, only offering the following description: [1]

“Since 1994, New Hope’s international team of research scientists, data analysts, editors, and web publishers have devised, conducted, prepared, and published important research for both the public good and for private clients.” [1]

A 2013 article from the TransCanada pipeline company notes that climate change denier Paul C. “Chip” Knappenberger spent “15 years as the Research Coordinator for New Hope Environmental Services, Inc.” Knappenberger was also listed as “Technical Supervisor” for the World Climate Report. [14]

World Climate Report Staff

The NHS publication, World Climate Report, listed staff members on their print issues and on their website:

Name	1st Issue	1997	2000	2003	2006	2007	Description
Patrick J. Michaels	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Chief Editor
Paul C. Knappenberger	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Technical Supervisor
Robert E. Davis	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Associate Editor
Robert C. Balling Jr.				Y		Y	Contributing Editor
Amy Lemley		Y	Y	Y			Copy Editor
Oliver Frauenfeld				Y			Chief Web Technician
Thomas Gale Moore		Y					Health and Economics Editor
Philip J. Stenger	Y						Research Coordinator

Actions

July 2007

Patrick Michaels was retained as an “expert witness” by a group of auto manufacturers including Green Mountain Chrysler Plymouth Dodge Jeep, Green Mountain Ford Mercury, Joe Tornabene’s GMC, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the DaimlerChyrsler Corporation and General Motors Corporation. Michaels dropped out as an expert witness because he did not want to reveal the funders behind New Hope Environmental Services. [11]

He stated in his affidavit that, “ stated that “as the case moved closer to trial, I learned in conversations with plaintiff’s counsel that New Hope’s confidential information might not remain confidential if I testified at trial. Consequently, on or around April 7, 2007, I informed plaintiffs counsel that I would not testify at trial. My sole reason in doing so was concern that my trial testimony would result in the loss of confidentiality for the New Hope information.” [4]

August 2003

New Hope Environmental Services prepared an “Assessment of Potential Climate Impacts of Alternative Northeastern U.S. Electric Utility CO2 Caps.” [15]

The report, looking at emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol, argued that “under no circumstance would either of these alternative emissions caps result in a measurable impact on the future course of global temperatures or sea level rise.”  [15]

1998

New Hope Environmental Services prepared a report for the Greening Earth Society titled “In Defense of Carbon Dioxide.” According to the report’s summary: [16]

“[T]he overwhelming weight of scientific evidence does not support the proposition that carbon dioxide can be “reasonably anticipated to cause or contribute to adverse effects on public health, welfare, or the environment.” In fact, the balance of evidence is supportive of the opposite notion: Carbon dioxide increases will confer a net benefit on society.”  [16]

1997

New Hope Environmental Services published Patrick Michaels’ book, State of the Climate Report: Essays on Global Climate Change. [17]

Related Organizations

• World Climate Report (WCR) — Described as “our bi-weekly online publication.” [1]

Contact & Address

The following information was published on the New Hope website as of 2009: [1]

Research Facility (for general inquiries, media requests, speakers bureau)
New Hope Environmental Services, Inc.
536 Pantops Center, #402
Charlottesville, VA  22911 USA
Telephone (520) 742-1018
Facsimile (520) 742-1018
Email [email protected].

In a 2003 report, they provided an alternate address: [15]

NEW HOPE Environmental Services, Inc.
5 Boar’s Head Lane, Suite 101, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Phone: (804) 295-7462 Fax (804) 295-7549 

Social Media

NHES does not have a presence on social media.

Resources

1. New Hope Environmental Services, Inc. homepage. Archived April 9, 2009. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/rfZXr
2. “Patrick J. Michaels: Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies,” The Cato Institute. Archived July 29, 2017.  Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/fslBz
3. “NEW HOPE ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.” Commonwealth of Virginia State Corporation Commission. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/pp9sr
4. “Affidavit of Dr. Patrick J. Michaels” (PDF), United States District Court for the District of Vermont, July 6, 2007. Retrieved from sejarchiveorg.
5. “New Hope Environmental Services,” SourceWatch. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ctw7Q
6. “Subscription Information,” NHES.com. Archived April 18, 1997. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RKMHB
7. “World Climate Report,” nhes.com. Archived April 29, 1999. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/0ywsw
8. “Join GES,” Greeningearthsociety.org. Archived March 8, 2005. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/8BURx
9. “About Us, Greening Earth Society. Archived March 8, 2005. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/fxiXy
10. New Hope Environmental Services, Inc. homepage. Archievd April 9, 2009. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/0ywsw
11. Kevin Grandia. “Climate skeptic Pat Michaels refuses court request to disclose funding sources,”DeSmog, September 20, 2007.
12. Robert McClure. “Leading climate-change skeptic won’t reveal sources of funding,” Seattle Pi, September 1,2 007. Archived July 29, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/jCSk8
13. Bob Burton. “The Cato Institute’s Generous Funding of Patrick Michaels,” PR Watch, May 25, 2009. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/QeCF7
14. “Climate science does not add up,” TransCanada, April 23, 2013. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/zZfm0
15. “Assessment of Potential Climate Impacts of Alternative Northeastern U.S. Electric Utility CO2 Caps” (PDF), New Hope Environmental Services, August 2003. Retrieved from rggi.org.
16. “IN DEFENSE OF CARBON DIOXIDE: A Comprehensive Review of Carbon Dioxide’s I Effects on Human Health, Welfare, and The Environment,” (PDF), Greening Earth Society. Retrieved from Greenpeace research documents.
17. “State of the Climate Report: Essays on Global Climate Change,” Google Books. Accessed July 31, 2017.

Other Resources

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