Aww! Cato Institute Jettisons "Center For The Study Of Science", Along With Pat Michaels
On Friday, meteorologist and Cato adjunct scholar Ryan Maue tweeted about the demise of the Cato Institutes Center for the Study of Science, home to the Koch groups climate and environment experts. All the directors and adjuncts, like Maue, are no longer part of the organization.
Catos project page removed the Center sometime this month.Center director and longtime denier Patrick Michaels bio page now reads Former Director of the Center, a change made some time at the end of March. The Energy and Environment content on the Cato website suggests that while Michaels provided the bulk of the content before January 2018, after that its come from various other Cato experts.
Neither Cato nor Michaels appear to have made any public statement about why the Center folded. The Center has come under increased scrutiny as larger awareness of fossil fuel funding for denial organizations has grown, borne of the ExxonKnew litigation. Back in 2010, Michaels admitted on CNN that something like 40% of his funding came from fossil fuels. The Cato Institute subsequently told ThinkProgress that Michaels worked for Cato on a contract basis, not as a full-time employee.
It looks like one of the last events for which Michaels used his Cato affiliation was at McLean, Virginias Lewinsville Presbyterian Church on March 20th. The church billed the event as a chance to see a leading merchant of doubt in action. According to Adam Siegel, who runs the climate and energy blog GetEnergySmartNOW and attended the event, Michaels presentation was 90 minutes of exactly what one would expect from a professional deceiver. But there was one notable moment, one that wed like to hope will be the last we hear from lifelong protector of polluters Pat Michaels.
EDIT
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/5/28/1860852/-CATO-Quietly-Folds-Center-For-Study-of-Science-After-Pat-Michaels-Finally-Tells-A-Truth-About-Heart