The world of social media has been abuzz with the revelation that anti-science economist Dr. Chuck Benbrook was involved in an orchestrated campaign to demonize scientists and promote the agenda of his corporate sponsors. The chain of dark money wends its way through sites like SourceWatch, US Right To Know, Mother Jones and on to science critics like Michael Pollan, Dr. Marion Nestle and Dr. Mehmet Oz.

But it isn't just the anti-biology groups on the left that are involved in the kind of conspiratorial actions they claim pro-science groups are. It turns out that some involved in the war on natural gas are doing the same thing. A recent University of North Texas (UNT) study linked hydraulic fracturing - fracking - and high ozone levels in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but Dr. Kuruvilla John never disclosed that he had received $120,000 from the activist group Downwinders at Risk, which is devoted to eliminating natural gas.

Obviously if a pro-science academic had such an obvious conflict of interest, the lobbying group behind the partisan attack site SourceWatch, and certainly political magazines like Mother Jones, would be outraged.  Instead, the only mention on SourceWatch is applauding them for supporting the lobbying effort called the Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act.

Link: Undisclosed Ties to Anti-Fracking Group Cast Haze Over UNT Smog Research