Editing Fred Singer (section)

====SEPP and funding====
In 1990 Singer set up the [[Science & Environmental Policy Project]] (SEPP) to argue against preventive measures against global warming. After the 1991 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the [[Earth Summit]], Singer started writing and speaking out to cast doubt on the science. He predicted disastrous economic damage from any restrictions on fossil fuel use, and argued that the natural world and its weather patterns are complex and ill-understood, and that little is known about the dynamics of heat exchange from the oceans to the atmosphere, or the role of clouds. As the scientific consensus grew, he continued to argue from a dismissive position.<ref name = "scheuering2004" /> He has repeatedly criticized the climate models that predict global warming. In 1994 he compared model results to observed temperatures and found that the predicted temperatures for 1950–1980 deviated from the temperatures that had actually occurred, from which he concluded in his regular column in ''The Washington Times''—with the headline that day "Climate Claims Wither under the Luminous Lights of Science"—that climate models are faulty. In 2007 he collaborated on a study that found tropospheric temperature trends of "Climate of the 20th Century" models differed from satellite observations by twice the model mean uncertainty.<ref>Douglass, David H.; Christy, John R.; Pearson, Benjamin D.; Singer, S. Fred. [https://archive.today/20130106012102/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/117857349/abstract "A comparison of tropical temperature trends with model predictions"], ''International Journal of Climatology'', 28: 1693, December 5, 2007.</ref>

Rachel White Scheuering writes that, when SEPP began, it was affiliated with the [[Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy]], a think tank founded by [[Unification Church]] leader [[Sun Myung Moon]].<ref name = "scheuering2004" /> A 1990 article for the [[Cato Institute]] identifies Singer as the director of the science and environmental policy project at the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy, on leave from the University of Virginia.<ref>Singer, S. Fred. {{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/reg13n1-singer.html |title=Environmental Strategies with Uncertain Science |access-date=January 15, 2003 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080110224712/http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/reg13n1-singer.html |archive-date=January 10, 2008 }}, ''Regulation'' 13(1), Winter 1990, Cato Institute.</ref> Scheuering writes that Singer had cut ties with the institute, and was funded by foundations and oil companies.<ref name = "scheuering2004" /> She writes that he was a paid consultant for many years for ARCO, ExxonMobil, Shell, Sun Oil Company, and [[Unocal]], and that SEPP had received grants from ExxonMobil. Singer said his financial relationships did not influence his research. Scheuering argues that his conclusions concur with the economic interests of the companies that pay him, in that the companies want to see a reduction in environmental regulation.<ref name = "scheuering2004" />

In August 2007 ''Newsweek'' reported that in April 1998 a dozen people from what it called "the denial machine" met at the [[American Petroleum Institute]]'s Washington headquarters. The meeting included Singer's group, the [[George C. Marshall Institute]], and ExxonMobil. Newsweek said that, according to an eight-page memo that was leaked, the meeting proposed a $5-million campaign to convince the public that the science of global warming was controversial and uncertain. The plan was leaked to the press and never implemented.<ref name=Begley>Begley, Sharon. [http://www.newsweek.com/id/32482/page/3 "The Truth About Denial"], ''Newsweek'', August 13, 2007.</ref> The week after the story, ''Newsweek'' published a contrary view from [[Robert Samuelson]], one of its columnists, who said the story of an industry-funded denial machine was contrived and fundamentally misleading.<ref>Samuelson, Robert. [http://www.newsweek.com/id/32312 "Greenhouse Simplicities"], ''Newsweek'', August 20–27, 2007.</ref> ABC News reported in March 2008 that Singer said he is not on the payroll of the energy industry, but he acknowledged that SEPP had received one unsolicited charitable donation of $10,000 from ExxonMobil, and that it was one percent of all donations received. Singer said that his connection to Exxon was more like being on their mailing list than holding a paid position.<ref name=Harris>[[Dan Harris (journalist)|Harris, Dan]] et al. [https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/GlobalWarming/story?id=4506059&page=1 "Global Warming Denier: Fraud or 'Realist'?"], ABC News, March 23, 2008; Singer, S. Fred. [http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results/23002/Letter_to_ABC_News_from_Dr_S_Fred_Singer.html "Letter to ABC News from Dr. S. Fred Singer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827030100/http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results/23002/Letter_to_ABC_News_from_Dr_S_Fred_Singer.html |date=August 27, 2009 }}, Science & Environmental Policy Project, March 28, 2008, accessed May 16, 2010.</ref> The relationships have discredited Singer's research among members of the scientific community, according to Scheuering. Congresswoman Lynn Rivers questioned Singer's credibility during a congressional hearing in 1995, saying he had not been able to publish anything in a peer-reviewed scientific journal for the previous 15 years, except for one technical comment.<ref name = "scheuering2004" /><ref>{{cite journal|last=Michaels|first=P. J.|author2=Singer, S. F. |author3=Knappenberger, P. C. |title=Analyzing Ultraviolet-B Radiation: Is There a Trend?|journal=Science|date=May 27, 1994|volume=264|issue=5163|pages=1341–1342|doi=10.1126/science.264.5163.1341|pmid=17780851|bibcode=1994Sci...264.1341M|doi-access=free}}</ref>