George H. Taylor

Credentials

• M.S. Meteorology University of Utah (1975).¹“George H. Taylor,” Profile at Oregon Climate Service. Archived April 2, 2004 (Taylor is no longer listed on staff at OCS).
• B.A. Mathematics U.C. Santa Barbara (1969).²“George H. Taylor,” Profile at Oregon Climate Service. Archived April 2, 2004 (Taylor is no longer listed on staff at OCS).

Background

George Taylor is a past faculty member at Oregon State University. He has become a controversial figure in Oregon, where he previously used the title of “State Climatologist.”

Although some profiles list Taylor as faculty member at Oregon State University’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, a list of COAS Faculty (as of February, 2012) does not include his name. Taylor retired from his position as manager of the Oregon Climate Service at Oregon State University in May, 2008.³“After 19 Years at Helm of Oregon Climate Service, George Taylor Retires,” Ocean Air (from the College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University). Accessed February, 2012. Archived with WebCite, February 19, 2012. ⁴Jeff Wright. “Weather aficionado will leave his post for new challenges,” The Register-Guard, February 22, 2008.

The Oregon State Governor’s office has since stated that “George Taylor doesn’t represent the governor’s office, and he doesn’t represent the state of Oregon.” The same August 2005 news article reports that, “Taylor himself has supplemented his government salary with oil money.”⁵Paul Koberstein. “ HOT OR NOT,” Willamette Week, August 24, 2005. Archived February 19, 2012 with WebCite.

One independent investigation into Taylor’s title as “Oregon State Climatologist” is documented here.⁶“Facts about George Taylor and the ‘state climatologist’,” HinesSight, February 8, 2007.

Governor Ted Kulongoski clarified, “He is Oregon State University’s climatologist. He is not the state of Oregon’s climatologist.”⁷Vince Patton. “Global warming debate spurs Ore. title tiff,” KGW.com, February 8, 2007. Archived February 24, 2009.

Taylor is listed as a “scientific advisor” to the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, an organization that has received funding from ExxonMobil and the Western Fuels Association.⁸“ U.S. Coal Industry: Global Warming Is Good For Us,” The Heat Is Online, Accessed February, 2012. Archived with WebCite, February 19, 2012.

Taylor has also been paid to write articles for Tech Central Station ( TCS), an organization that has also received money from ExxonMobil.

Until recently, TCS was run by Washington lobby/ PR firm DCI Group and was the centre of controversy over a YouTube Al Gore spoof video they produced and posted under the guise of 29-year old amateur filmmaker.

Stance on Climate Change

“It’s not clear that we are seeing unprecedented warming, and it’s definitely untrue that any warming trend can be assigned to human activities. Natural variations in climate are much more significant than any human activities.”⁹Paul Koberstein. “ HOT OR NOT,” Willamette Week, August 24, 2005. Archived February 19, 2012 with WebCite.

Key Quotes

“Most of the climate change we’ve seen up until now has been as a result of natural variations.”¹⁰ CNN, Glenn Beck special “Exposed: The Climate of Fear,” May 2, 2007.

Key Deeds

May 27, 2011

George Taylor was one of fourteen Amici, described as “well-qualified climate scientists,” who claimed that the “ EPA’s endangerment finding is not ‘rational’ and therefore arbitrary and capricious.”¹¹ COALITION FOR RESPONSIBLE REGULATION, INC., ET AL. (Petitioners) v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AND LISA P. JACKSON, ADMINISTRATOR, Respondents ( PDF). Retrieved from World Climate Report. Archived.pdf on file at Desmog.

According to the petitioners, representing the Coalition for Responsible Regulation, Inc.:¹² COALITION FOR RESPONSIBLE REGULATION, INC., ET AL. (Petitioners) v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AND LISA P. JACKSON, ADMINISTRATOR, Respondents ( PDF). Retrieved from World Climate Report. Archived.pdf on file at Desmog.

“[T]he Earth’s climate is not changing in an unusual or anomalous fashion. The EPA relied on instrumental data that were adjusted to exaggerate the increase in global temperatures.”¹³ COALITION FOR RESPONSIBLE REGULATION, INC., ET AL. (Petitioners) v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AND LISA P. JACKSON, ADMINISTRATOR, Respondents ( PDF). Retrieved from World Climate Report. Archived.pdf on file at Desmog.

Petitioners listed were:

• Timothy F. Ball
• Joseph S. D’Aleo
• Don J. Easterbrook
• Anthony Finizza
• William Happer
• Benjamin M. Herman
• Craig D. Idso
• Richard A. Keen
• Anthony R. Lupo
• Nicola Scafetta
• Roy W. Spencer
• George H. Taylor
• James P. Wallace III
• George T. Wolff

March 2009

Taylor was a speaker at the Heartland Institute‘s Second International Conference on Climate Change ( ICCC2) in New York City.¹⁴“Second International Conference on Climate Change, program,” ( PDF) Heartland Institute, Archived February 12, 2018.

DeSmogBlog researched the funding behind the conference, and found sponsor organizations had received over $47 million from energy companies and right-wing foundations, with 78% of that total coming from the Scaife Family of foundations.

Taylor’s speech, titled “The Pacific Decadal Oscillation: A Dominant Mode of Climate Variability” can be viewed below.

March 2008

Taylor was a speaker at Heartland Institute‘s First International Conference on Climate Change ( ICCC1) in New York.¹⁵“International Conference on Climate Change, program,” ( PDF) Heartland Institute. Archived February 12, 2018

His speech, titled “Long-Term Variability in Temperature and Precipitation” can be viewed below.

May 2, 2007

Appeared on Glenn Beck’s May 2, 2007 special “Exposed: The Climate of Fear.”¹⁶ CNN, Glenn Beck special “Exposed: The Climate of Fear,” May 2, 2007.

Numerous climate skeptics were interviewed for the program including Marlo Lewis, Tim Ball, Patrick Michaels, Patrick Moore, Chris Horner, John Christy, Bjorn Lomborg, David Legates, and Roy Spencer.

See a transcript here ( PDF).

2005

Controversy has followed Taylor after his use of the title of Oregon “State Climatologist.”

Willamette Week reported:¹⁷Paul Koberstein. “ HOT OR NOT,” Willamette Week, August 24, 2005. Archived February 19, 2012 with WebCite.

“Taylor’s colleagues at Oregon State’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences have grown frustrated over the years with what they consider his misunderstanding of climate-change facts. On multiple occasions, faculty members found it necessary to correct statements in Taylor’s regular ‘Weather Matters’ column in the Corvallis Gazette-Times.”

Phillip Mote, the climatologist for neighboring Washington State, “surmises that Taylor is guilty of looking only at data that support his views, while discarding the rest. You can only come to that conclusion if you handpick the climate records,” said Mote. He also says that, “while his Oregon counterpart is a good friend [Taylor’s] dead wrong about global warming.”

The same article reported: “While Taylor holds the title of ‘state climatologist,’ the office of the Governor of Oregon has stated: ‘The state climatologist does not speak for the governor on global warming,’ says Van’t Hof, Kulongoski’s sustainability policy advisor. ‘George Taylor doesn’t represent the governor’s office, and he doesn’t represent the state of Oregon,’ the aide says. ‘The governor consistently is in favor of addressing global warming. Global warming is real and is greatly accelerated by human activity’.”

November 16, 2004

Taylor is a signatory to an open letter to Senator John McCain that suggests the Arctic is too “complex” to be sure that global warming is an issue that needs to be addressed.¹⁸Open letter to John McCain, November 16, 2004. Republished by Tech Central Station. Archived December 7, 2004.

Affiliations

• Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change — Science and Policy Advisory Board Member.¹⁹“Scientific and Policy Advisors” ( PDF), Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change brochure.
• Tech Central Station ( TCS) — Author.²⁰“George Taylor,” Tech Central Station. Archived February 14, 2007.
• The Heartland Institute — “Expert.”²¹“Heartland Experts: George Taylor,” The Heartland Institute. Accessed February, 2012.

Publications

According to a search of Google Scholar, Taylor has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals, mainly on the subject of climate in the state of Oregon.

Other Resources

Resources

• 1
  “George H. Taylor,” Profile at Oregon Climate Service. Archived April 2, 2004 (Taylor is no longer listed on staff at OCS).
• 2
  “George H. Taylor,” Profile at Oregon Climate Service. Archived April 2, 2004 (Taylor is no longer listed on staff at OCS).
• 3
  “After 19 Years at Helm of Oregon Climate Service, George Taylor Retires,” Ocean Air (from the College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University). Accessed February, 2012. Archived with WebCite, February 19, 2012.
• 4
  Jeff Wright. “Weather aficionado will leave his post for new challenges,” The Register-Guard, February 22, 2008.
• 5
  Paul Koberstein. “ HOT OR NOT,” Willamette Week, August 24, 2005. Archived February 19, 2012 with WebCite.
• 6
  “Facts about George Taylor and the ‘state climatologist’,” HinesSight, February 8, 2007.
• 7
  Vince Patton. “Global warming debate spurs Ore. title tiff,” KGW.com, February 8, 2007. Archived February 24, 2009.
• 8
  “ U.S. Coal Industry: Global Warming Is Good For Us,” The Heat Is Online, Accessed February, 2012. Archived with WebCite, February 19, 2012.
• 9
  Paul Koberstein. “ HOT OR NOT,” Willamette Week, August 24, 2005. Archived February 19, 2012 with WebCite.
• 10
  CNN, Glenn Beck special “Exposed: The Climate of Fear,” May 2, 2007.
• 11
  COALITION FOR RESPONSIBLE REGULATION, INC., ET AL. (Petitioners) v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AND LISA P. JACKSON, ADMINISTRATOR, Respondents ( PDF). Retrieved from World Climate Report. Archived.pdf on file at Desmog.
• 12
  COALITION FOR RESPONSIBLE REGULATION, INC., ET AL. (Petitioners) v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AND LISA P. JACKSON, ADMINISTRATOR, Respondents ( PDF). Retrieved from World Climate Report. Archived.pdf on file at Desmog.
• 13
  COALITION FOR RESPONSIBLE REGULATION, INC., ET AL. (Petitioners) v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AND LISA P. JACKSON, ADMINISTRATOR, Respondents ( PDF). Retrieved from World Climate Report. Archived.pdf on file at Desmog.
• 14
  “Second International Conference on Climate Change, program,” ( PDF) Heartland Institute, Archived February 12, 2018.
• 15
  “International Conference on Climate Change, program,” ( PDF) Heartland Institute. Archived February 12, 2018
• 16
  CNN, Glenn Beck special “Exposed: The Climate of Fear,” May 2, 2007.
• 17
  Paul Koberstein. “ HOT OR NOT,” Willamette Week, August 24, 2005. Archived February 19, 2012 with WebCite.
• 18
  Open letter to John McCain, November 16, 2004. Republished by Tech Central Station. Archived December 7, 2004.
• 19
  “Scientific and Policy Advisors” ( PDF), Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change brochure.
• 20
  “George Taylor,” Tech Central Station. Archived February 14, 2007.
• 21
  “Heartland Experts: George Taylor,” The Heartland Institute. Accessed February, 2012.