Frackers follow tobacco’s lead in funding research, Industry trying to buy prestige of universities, while ties go unreported

Frackers follow tobacco’s lead in funding research, Industry trying to buy prestige of universities, while ties go unreported by Jim Efstathiou Jr., July 29, 2012, Bloomberg News
What the study didn’t do was note that it was sponsored by gas drillers and led by an economist, now at the University of Wyoming, with a history of producing industry-friendly research on economic and energy issues. The researcher, Tim Considine, said his analysis was sound and not biased by industry funding. … Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors, who made the tobacco analogy, said companies and their trade associations are “buying the prestige” of universities that are sometimes not transparent about funding nor vigilant enough to prevent financial interests from shaping research findings. The Penn State report is not the only example. A professor at the University of Texas at Austin led a February study that found no evidence of groundwater contamination from fracking. He did not reveal that he is a member of the board of a gas producer. … A May report on shale gas from the State University of New York at Buffalo contained errors and did not acknowledge “extensive ties” by its authors to the gas industry, according to a watchdog group. One of the authors was Mr. Considine, the same economist who wrote the Penn State study. … Controversy has followed when research too closely supports a corporate agenda. Litigation against tobacco companies helped reveal a decades-long effort that relied on academic research to suppress the dangers of smoking. … As questions have arisen about the environmental and economic implications of fracking, the same pattern is appearing.