Critics question shale-gas researcher, schools

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

A well-known expert on the natural-gas boom is again facing criticism over his ties to industry and a lack of transparency in how he presents work to the public, fueling debates over research that’s been published by major universities.

Timothy Considine was lead author on a shale-gas report recently issued by the University at Buffalo and a previous report from Penn State University. Critics say both reports presented research in misleading ways and failed to fully disclose funding sources.

Considine, now at the University of Wyoming, has gotten funding from industry groups such as the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the Wyoming Mining Association, the American Iron and Steel Institute and the American Petroleum Institute.

The Public Accountability Initiative, a Buffalo nonprofit, has issued a critique of the UB study.

“Taken together, the serious flaws in the report, industry-friendly spin, strong industry ties and fundraising plans raise serious questions about the Shale Resources and Society Institute’s independence and the University at Buffalo’s decision to lend its independent, academic authority to the Institute’s work,” the critique said.

Some say Considine and the University at Buffalo easily could have avoided the controversies over transparency.

“It sounds like a moral blind spot,” said Stephen Satris, a professor of philosophy at the Clemson University Rutland Institute for Ethics.

In 2010, Penn State administrators retracted the original version of a report on the economic impact of Marcellus Shale natural gas, noting that Considine and his co-authors made “a clear error” in not disclosing that the report was funded by an industry group, as well as “flaws in the way the report was written and presented to the public.”

The University at Buffalo has published a correction to Considine’s report on environmental regulations involving the Marcellus Shale, noting that an initial claim that it went through an independent peer-review process “may have given readers an incorrect impression.”

The University at Buffalo also said the report “was not funded or commissioned by external sources.” But Considine told The Associated Press in an email that the University of Wyoming paid him and two other lead authors.

Considine said the Wyoming funding was disclosed in a conference call with reporters, and that he was just doing work as a tenured professor. But that funding link wasn’t acknowledged in the actual published report.

Considine is the director of the UW Center for Energy Economics & Public Policy, and the group’s website includes a page called “Outside Organizations.” It contains links to the American Gas Association, the American Petroleum Institute, the Natural Gas Supply Association and the International Society for Industrial Ecology.

Asked about industry-funded research, Considine replied that “two plus two should always equal four, no matter who paid for the pencil.” He added that he doesn’t see how the shale institute “could provide any more transparency than it already has.”