Background
Dr. Stephen Murgatroyd holds a Ph.D in Psychology. Currently, Murgatroyd works as a columnist for the Troy Media Corporation. He also is the founder of Murgatroyd Communications & Consulting Inc. Finally, Murgatroyd is also a Trustee of the Alberta Heritage Community Foundation and board member of the Energy Futures Network.
Murgatroyd and Global Warming
Stephen Murgatroyd is a staunch climate skeptic. He voices his opinion on the subject through his columns with the conservative media outlet Troy Media, and his personal blog. Although Murgatroyd has no professional or academic experience in the area of climate change, he speaks authoritatively on the subject. Murgatroyd often publishes his articles under the title, Dr. Stephen Murgatroyd. Since most readers do not know what he holds a Ph.D in, this helps create a false air that Murgatroyd can speak legitimately on the science behind anthropogenic global warming.
A great example of Murgatroyd using his doctoral title to misrepresent himself comes from the synopsis of an article he published for Troy Media on July 29, 2009. The article’s overview reads, “First, the good news: Dr. Stephen Murgatroyd thinks an agreement on climate change still faces obstacles. The bad news: The climate is getting colder.”
Even though Dr. Murgatroyd is not shy of sharing that he has published 49 peer reviewed papers in academic journals, a search of Google Scholar reveals he has never been published in the area of climate change.
Murgatroyd and Energy Futures Network
Stephen Murgatroyd is one of four board members of the Energy Futures Network (EFN). EFN states its goal is to “enable the rapid development of technologies for sustainable and responsible energy production, conversion, transmission and use.” In a nutshell, this non-profit organization’s mission is to nurture collaborative community action in developing sustainable and responsible energy technologies.
In light of EFN’s goals and mission statement, it is interesting to note that out of the 16 reports on sustainable energy sources the organization offers, 13 are on oil, gas, and coal development. The other three articles are on bioenergy. Although geothermal, hydro, wind, solar, and ocean power are listed, EFN does not offer any resources on this energy technologies.
Energy Futures Network’s emphasis on oil and gas is not that surprising considering the two founding partners of the organization, R.W. (Bob) Taylor and Bob Mitchell have strong links to these fossil fuel industries.
Taylor, who is a member of EFN’s core team, was the General Manager of Oil Sands for Amoco from 1995-1999. Amoco, now BP Amoco, is the largest producer of natural gas in North America. In 2000, Taylor became the Assistant Deputy Minister of Energy for Alberta. In this role, Taylor was responsible for oil sands, conventional oil, mineral tenure, mineral land access, and relationships with First Nations in regard to energy. Taylor held this position until 2004.
Currently, Bob Mitchell works for ConocoPhillips Canada as Manager Climate Change. In this role, Mitchell is responsible for discovering ways to lower emissions from oil and gas production. Additionally, Mitchell leads a collaborative of six oil sands companies in trying to help them make “significant progress on the environmental, economic, and social performance of their oil sands development.” Mitchell has also actively worked to accelerate the development of carbon capture and storage technology–the next generation fossil fuel technology.