The University of Colorado (CU) is known for its climate and energy research and support for sustainability, even announcing new environmentally friendly programs for the CU Buffaloes football stadium this year. That reputation has come into question however, after an investigation by the Boulder Weekly and Greenpeace USA claimed the university is fronting a fracking public relations scheme.
The Boulder Weekly published a two-part investigation that came to be known as “Frackademia,” uncovering a supposed relationship between the fracking industry and the University of Colorado.
“I like to imagine this political sleight of hand as a massive network of loudspeakers mounted on poles in every community across the state,” wrote Joel Dyer, the author of the article that brought the CU partnership to light.
“Every few minutes the same message blares out over the speakers: ‘oil and gas and fracking are good for you because jobs, economy, freedom, American flag, natural gas is the new green, Middle East terrorists … blah, blah, blah,’” Dyer continued.
The majority of the controversy is primarily fixated around the CU Leeds School of Business and the organization, Common Sense Policy Roundtable (CSPR). The two entities, allegedly, have teamed up to control the public opinion on fracking in the state.
Greenpeace argues that the partnership was made to create economic studies that benefit the fracking industry’s image, such as one 2014 study conducted by CU researchers which found that chemicals in fracking fluid were no more toxic than common household substances.
Another study from the Leeds School indicated that fracking is a vital source of economic development for Colorado, and that resource extraction is concentrated in only a few areas of the state.
“Under the contract agreement with Common Sense Policy Roundtable, Leeds receives $110,000 a year but REMI gets $38,000 per year to update the [research] model,” Julie Poppen, the Senior News Editor for CU Strategic Relations, said in an email.
REMI, or the company Regional Economic Models Inc., provides research models through CSPR, intended to cover areas such as water, agriculture and energy development.
“The REMI model is a regional economic modeling program created to inform and improve the quality of public policy decisions,” the CSPR website states. “The REMI model will allow CSPR along with the University of Colorado Leeds School Of Business to accomplish independent, in‐depth, fact based analysis.”
Red Alert Politics reached out to Greenpeace USA for comment, and was directed to a blog post by one of the organization’s primary researchers.
“Internal documents from the University of Colorado reveal a coordinated plan to use UC branded papers in a PR campaign designed to promote and defend the oil and gas industry,” wrote Greenpeace researcher Jesse Coleman. “CSPR set priorities for the researchers, prioritizing oil and gas work. The studies were aimed at politically contentious topics, like local regulation over fracking wells.”
The Leeds School countered that the Boulder Weekly published “inaccuracies” in their initial report, and remains adamant that they are not in the pocket of Colorado natural gas.
“While we have a contract with the Common Sense Policy Roundtable to use the REMI model research tool for economic forecasting, the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation and the Denver South Economic Development Partnership are contributing to the cost and have a role in research oversight,” said Rich Wobbekind, the executive director of the Business Research Division for the Leeds School of Business.
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