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{{#badges: Climate change |CoalSwarm}}<divstyle="float:right;width:100px;margin:0 0 1em 1em">[[ImageFile:Michaels.jpg|frame|right|alt=Patrick J. Michaels|Source: Cato Institute]] '''Patrick J. Michaels''' (&plusmn;1942- ), also known as Pat Michaels, is a largely oil-funded [[global warming skeptic]] who argues that [[global warming]] models are fatally flawed and, in any event, we should take no action because new technologies will soon replace those that emit greenhouse gases. Patrick Michaels of the University of Virginia served as an Expert Reviewer to Working Group I of the Fourth Assessment Report of the [[IPCC]]<ref>"[http:/div/www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/annexessannex-iii.html]"</ref>.

In an affidavit in a Vermont court case, Michaels described his firm's "mission" as being 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."<ref name="PMAffadavit">Dr. Patrick J. Michaels, [httphttps://www.sourcewatch.org/images/e/e5/GreenMtDoc521-3.pdf "Affidavit of Dr. Patrick J. Michaels"], United States District Court for the District of Vermont, Green Mountain Chrysler et al. v. Crombie et al., Docket No. 02:05-CV-302, July 6, 2007.(Pdf)</ref> In effect, New Hope Environmental Services is a PR firm.

====In2009: Cato Institute "just not true" ad, and WSJ Op-ed misdirection re von Storch resignation=========Dec. 2009: Wall Street Journal "tip of iceberg" op-ed misrepresentation, and silence=====An op-ed<ref>{{cite web|publisher=WSJ.com|title=How to Manufacture a Climate Consensus|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704398304574598230426037244.html|accessdate=2011-10-13|author=Pat Michaels|date=2009-12-17}}</ref> by Michaels in the December 17, 2009 Wall Street Journal argued that the climate science consensus was illusory. Among his arguments was a selective recounting of the Climate Research episode<ref name="stormytimes">{{cite web |author=Clare Goodess |publisher=SGR |title=Stormy Times for Climate Research |url=http://www.sgr.org.uk/climate/StormyTimes_NL28.htm |date=2003-11 |accessdate=2009-12-26 |quote=...Hans von Storch and I were also aware of three earlier Climate Research papers about which people had raised concerns over the review process. In all these cases, de Freitas had had editorial responsibility. }}</ref>: Michaels noted that the "skeptic" paper appeared, whereupon "Messrs. Jones and Mann" threatened to boycott the journal; then half its editorial board resigned. This recounting is chronologically accurate but causally misleading; the resignations had been "because of insufficient quality control on a bad paper — a skeptic’s paper, at that."<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The Way Things Break|title=Pat Michaels lying in the Wall Street Journal|url=http://thingsbreak.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/pat-michaels-lying-in-the-wall-street-journal/#comment-3556|accessdate=2011-10-13|author=Things Break (pseudonym)|date=2009-12-18}}</ref>, <ref name="stormytimes" /> Multiple emails sent to Michaels asking whether he'd been aware this was why the editors resigned, before he composed the Wall Street Journal op-ed, did not elicit a response.<ref>Emails from ahaynes, 2009 and 2010</ref> =====March 2009: Cato Institute ad, and RealClimate rebuttal=====

======Followupto Cato ad: RealClimate rebuttal of recent Feb 2009 Michaels testimony======In support of the statements, [[Chip Knappenberger]] of [[World Climate Report]] referred readers to recent (Feb.) testimony by Michaels to the House of Representatives Energy and Environment sub-committee<ref>[http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090212/testimony_michaels.pdf "Testimony of Patrick J. Michaels"], House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and Environment of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, February 12, 2009.</ref> That too was responded to at length by Gavin Schmidt of RealClimate.org.<ref>Gavin Schmidt, [http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/03/michaels-new-graph "Michaels’ new graph"], ''RealClimate'', March 26, 2009.</ref>

:...contrarian theories raise interesting questions about our total understanding of climate processes, but they do not offer convincing arguments against the conventional model of greenhouse gas emission-induced climate change. ... Michaels' questions about the temperature record are not convincing arguments against any conclusion that we are currently experiencing warming as the result of greenhouse gas emissions. ...[And] anomalies in the temperature record [do not] offer a mechanism for off-setting the much larger rise in temperature which might occur if the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases were to double or quadruple."<ref name=GCC6">Global Climate Coalition, [httphttps://www.sourcewatch.org/images/8/82/GCC_Primer_Draft.pdf "Primer on Climate Change Science· Final Draft"], January 18, 1996, pages 16-17.</ref>

* Stanley Lewandowski Jr. "[httphttps://www.sourcewatch.org/images/b/b0/Irea.pdf Memo Intermountain Rural Electric Association memo]", July 17, 2006. (This leaked memo describes IMEA's funding Michaels to the tune of $100,000 in February 2006.) (1MB PDF)

[[Category:Global warming skeptics|Michaels, Patrick]]

[[categoryCategory:Secrecy]][[categoryCategory:Coal Issues]][[Category:Public relations professionals]]