Michael Bastasch

Michael Bastasch

Credentials

Background

Michael Bastasch is a reporter for the conservative news site The Daily Caller where he focuses on energy and environmental issues. Bastasch has published over 3,000 articles on The Daily Caller and has regularly provided a platform for climate change skeptics.2โ€œMICHAEL BASTASCH | ALL ARTICLES,โ€ The Daily Caller. Accessed Mach 24, 2017. Archived at DeSmog.

According to Bastasch’s LinkedIn profile, he has a long history working with organizations tied to Koch Industries. He went through the Koch Internship Program through the Charles Koch Institute in 2012, and around the same time also interned on government relations at the Koch-funded Heritage Foundation. He was also a prior Research Associate at the Cascade Policy Institute, which the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) notes has close ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where Bastasch also interned in 2010. He also worked as a Koch Summer Fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University.3โ€œMichael Bastasch: Reporter at The Daily Caller News Foundation,โ€ LinkedIn. Accessed March 23, 2017. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. 4Lisa Graves. โ€œTrained on Koch: Daily Caller Claims Fake Rebuttal of CMD on ALEC Role Promoting ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws,โ€ PR Watch, June 18, 2012. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/D7Sk8

Writing at CMD, Lisa Graves highlight’s Bastasch’s internship, saying โ€œBastasch is one of hundreds of interns who have been funded by Charles’s newest enterprise to help turn their ideological affinity with Koch ‘into careers’.โ€5Lisa Graves. โ€œTrained on Koch: Daily Caller Claims Fake Rebuttal of CMD on ALEC Role Promoting ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws,โ€ PR Watch, June 18, 2012. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/D7Sk8

Daily Caller Koch Connections

According to data from Greenpeace, The Daily Caller News Foundation (the nonprofit arm of the Daily Caller) has received at least $825,814 in combined funding from Koch-controlled foundations. As reported at Daily KOS, the Daily Caller was one of the main beneficiaries of climate change denial funding through Koch foundations, and โ€œalso seems to be the final destination of sorts for the conservative media pipeline.โ€6โ€œWhy Do the Kochs Want To Hide Donations From The IRS? The Answer WONโ€™T Surprise You!โ€ Daily KOS, June 17, 2016. Archived July 13, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/zncCi

DeSmog reported that, in 2015, The Daily Caller News Foundation had accepted $106,248 in two donations from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. The group had also accepted $60,000 from the secretive DonorsTrust in that year.7Graham Readfearn. โ€œConservative Funders of Climate Denial Are Quietly Spending Millions To Generate More Partisan Journalism,โ€ DeSmog, June 15, 2016.

Climate science denier and Republican supporter Foster Freiss, who helped found the Daily Caller, also helped bankroll the organization with a $3 million donation before it was launched in January 2010.8Brendan DeMelle. โ€œTucker Carlsonโ€™s ‘Daily Caller’ Website Bankrolled by Climate Change Denier,โ€ DeSmog, January 12, 2010.

Media Matters reported that Freiss was also a major Koch donor and regular attendee of the Koch’s annual summits. The Daily Caller News Foundation was also formerly listed as a โ€œPartner Organizationโ€ of the Charles Koch Institute.9Denise Robbins. โ€œNew Book Exposes Koch Brothers’ Guide To Infiltrating The Media,โ€ Media Matters, February 17, 2016. 10โ€œPartner Organizations,โ€ Charles Koch Institute. Archived July 4, 2014. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/qHpZi

Stance on Climate Change

March 5, 2017

Writing in The Daily Caller on the 97% consensus among climate change scientists on man-made global warming, after quoting climate change deniers Richard Lindzen, Bastasch claims that โ€œconsensus is not proof.โ€ He adds, โ€œExperts can all agree, but that doesnโ€™t mean they are right.โ€11Michael Bastach. โ€œLetโ€™s Talk About The โ€˜97% Consensusโ€™ On Global Warming,โ€ The Daily Caller, March 5, 2017. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tupHy

โ€œThat being said, most climate scientists likely do agree humans are contributing to warming in some way [โ€ฆ] That still leaves us with a lot of possibilities. Is 51 percent of global warming attributable to humans or is 99 percent? Scientists can guess, but no one knows for sure.โ€12Michael Bastach. โ€œLetโ€™s Talk About The โ€˜97% Consensusโ€™ On Global Warming,โ€ The Daily Caller, March 5, 2017. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tupHy

He concludes with a survey from the Koch-funded George Mason University (GMU) that found one/third of AMS members at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) believe โ€œmostly natural or only about half-caused by humans.โ€13Michael Bastach. โ€œLetโ€™s Talk About The โ€˜97% Consensusโ€™ On Global Warming,โ€ The Daily Caller, March 5, 2017. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tupHy

He also defers to the โ€œclimate scientistsโ€ at the libertarian (and also heavily-Koch-funded) Cato Institute, which he claims have found that โ€œclimate models incorrectly predicted global temperature rise for six decades.โ€14Michael Bastach. โ€œLetโ€™s Talk About The โ€˜97% Consensusโ€™ On Global Warming,โ€ The Daily Caller, March 5, 2017. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tupHy

Global Warming โ€œPauseโ€

Bastasch has repeatedly promoted the debunked theory of a โ€œglobal warming pauseโ€ or โ€œhiatus.โ€ Sample articles below:15โ€œGlobal warming hiatus explained and it’s not good news,โ€ SkepticalScience April 9, 2015. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/AoFKU

Key Quotes

January 20, 2017

On The Daily Caller, Bastasch writes that regulations under the Obama administration had โ€œzero projected impactโ€ on global warming:16Michael Bastasch. โ€œHow Much Global Warming Did Obamaโ€™s Regulations Avert? Noneโ€ The Daily Caller, January 20, 2017. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ZLSlP

โ€œObama imposed $457 billion worth of climate regulations to avert an immeasurable amount of warming.

โ€œWell, okay, thatโ€™s not completely right โ€” itโ€™s actually worse.

โ€œThat figure assumes climate models accurately project CO2-induced warming, but thereโ€™s a lot of evidence building up that most climate models have over-predicted warming for the last six decades. If the models are running hot, that actually means Obama-era regulations will avert even less warming than three-hundredths of a degree.

โ€œIn that case, they could literally have zero projected impact on future warming.โ€17Michael Bastasch. โ€œHow Much Global Warming Did Obamaโ€™s Regulations Avert? Noneโ€ The Daily Caller, January 20, 2017. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ZLSlP

January 10, 2017

Citing research by climate change contrarian Roger Pielke Jr., Bastasch criticizes Bill Nye for tweeting that man-made global warming was increasing floods in Northern California:18Michael Bastasch. โ€œBill Nye Blames Global Warming For Devastating Floods In Northern Cali,โ€ The Daily Caller, January 10, 2017. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/F5MWh

โ€œOn a global scale, thereโ€™s little to no evidence flooding events have been on the rise,โ€ Bastasch wrote.19Michael Bastasch. โ€œBill Nye Blames Global Warming For Devastating Floods In Northern Cali,โ€ The Daily Caller, January 10, 2017. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/F5MWh

May, 2014

Writing at The Daily Caller, Bastasch declared:

โ€œThe Obama administration and environmentalists have tried to make it seem like there are virtually no dissenting voices among scientists that mankind is causing the Earth to warm rapidly and towards a catastrophic end. But not all scientists are in lock-step with the White House on climate science.โ€20Michael Bastasch. โ€œSkeptical Scientists Debunk White House Global Warming Report,โ€ The Daily Caller, May 16, 2014. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/qTmH4

Key Deeds

October 29, 2018

Bastasch, writing at The Daily Caller, cited a Twitter post by Richard Tol as evidence that โ€œSpending hundreds of millions of dollars on climate conferences has done nothing to cut emissions.โ€21Michael Bastasch. โ€œUN CLIMATE SUMMIT COSTS RISE WITH CO2 EMISSIONS, NOW EXCEED 0 MILLION, ECONOMIST SAYS,โ€ The Daily Caller, October 29, 2018. Archived November 7, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/JSph5

Tol had posted a graph on Twitter designed to illustrate rising costs of the United Nation’s annual Framework Convention on Climate Changeโ€™s (UNFCCC). Rather than using concrete values, โ€œTol multiplied the number of meetings by the length of each meeting, the number of participants and travels costs and salaries for government workers,โ€ Bastasch wrote.22Michael Bastasch. โ€œUN CLIMATE SUMMIT COSTS RISE WITH CO2 EMISSIONS, NOW EXCEED 0 MILLION, ECONOMIST SAYS,โ€ The Daily Caller, October 29, 2018. Archived November 7, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/JSph5

โ€œNumber of meetings is known,โ€ Tol said via email. โ€œLength of meetings is approximately known โ€“ two weeks for the main negotiations, one week for the committees, two days for the rest.โ€23Michael Bastasch. โ€œUN CLIMATE SUMMIT COSTS RISE WITH CO2 EMISSIONS, NOW EXCEED 0 MILLION, ECONOMIST SAYS,โ€ The Daily Caller, October 29, 2018. Archived November 7, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/JSph5

November 21, 2017

In a Daily Caller story titled โ€œThe Real Story Behind The Heartland Instituteโ€™s Role In The Trump Admin,โ€ Bastasch interviewed Joe Bast of the Heartland Institute followingThe Washington Post’s reporting on Heartland’s closed-door meeting in Houston, Texas. Bastasch said that Jim Lakely, Heartland’s communication director, had claimed the article was an effort to delegitimize Heartland and its work.24โ€œThis group thinks Trump hasnโ€™t done enough to unravel environmental rules. Hereโ€™s its wish listโ€ The Washington Post, November 15, 2017. Archived November 18, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/9JPgH 25Michael Bastasch. โ€œThe Real Story Behind The Heartland Instituteโ€™s Role In The Trump Admin,โ€ The Daily Caller. November 21, 2017. Archived November 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tCDXt

โ€œThe tone of it is that the climate realist right isnโ€™t happy with Trumpโ€™s progress,โ€ Lakely told the Daily Caller News Foundation. โ€œNothing could be further from the truth.โ€26Michael Bastasch. โ€œThe Real Story Behind The Heartland Instituteโ€™s Role In The Trump Admin,โ€ The Daily Caller. November 21, 2017. Archived November 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tCDXt

Bast had similar comments, saying โ€œthe left demonizes usโ€ while pointing to the publishing of Heartland’s leaked 2012 budget documents as an example. According to Bast, Heartland also never specifically told the EPA who to pick as part of a climate โ€œRed Team.โ€27Michael Bastasch. โ€œThe Real Story Behind The Heartland Instituteโ€™s Role In The Trump Admin,โ€ The Daily Caller. November 21, 2017. Archived November 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tCDXt

โ€œI have never met Scott Pruitt,โ€ Bast said. โ€œWeโ€™ve always tried to remain armโ€™s length from politics. Itโ€™s never been a priority for us to engage in politics.โ€28Michael Bastasch. โ€œThe Real Story Behind The Heartland Instituteโ€™s Role In The Trump Admin,โ€ The Daily Caller. November 21, 2017. Archived November 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tCDXt

โ€œThe real way we measure our impact is through public opinion surveys,โ€ Bast said, referring to Heartland’s surveys on public global warming attitudes.29Michael Bastasch. โ€œThe Real Story Behind The Heartland Instituteโ€™s Role In The Trump Admin,โ€ The Daily Caller. November 21, 2017. Archived November 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tCDXt

However, Bast did admit to a relationship with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, telling Bastasch that he talked frequently with Bannon regarding orders to combat climate policies, like urging Trump to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.30Michael Bastasch. โ€œThe Real Story Behind The Heartland Instituteโ€™s Role In The Trump Admin,โ€ The Daily Caller. November 21, 2017. Archived November 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tCDXt

โ€œSteve was an important channel for us to the White House,โ€ Bast said. โ€œ[..] Itโ€™s changed with Steve Bannon leaving.โ€31Michael Bastasch. โ€œThe Real Story Behind The Heartland Instituteโ€™s Role In The Trump Admin,โ€ The Daily Caller. November 21, 2017. Archived November 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tCDXt

Bast also said that Heartland’s new president, Tim Huelskamp, โ€œhas been invaluable to finding new allies in the administration,โ€ Bastasch wrote.32Michael Bastasch. โ€œThe Real Story Behind The Heartland Instituteโ€™s Role In The Trump Admin,โ€ The Daily Caller. November 21, 2017. Archived November 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tCDXt

August 22, 2017

Bastasch promoted a study by Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) senior fellows John Abbot and Jennifer Marohasy in an article at The Daily Caller. The study, titled โ€œThe application of machine learning for evaluating anthropogenic versus natural climate change,โ€ was published in the soon-to-be discontinued journalGeoResJ.33John Abbot and Jennifer Marohasy. โ€œThe application of machine learning for evaluating anthropogenic versus natural climate change,โ€ GeoResJ Vol. 14 (December, 2017). 34โ€œAdvanced Computer Models Suggest Most Global Warming Is From Natural Forces Photo of Michael Bastasch,โ€ The Daily Caller, August 22, 2017.

โ€œThe world would have warmed throughout the 20th Century even without carbon dioxide emissions from the industrial revolution, according to a new study,โ€ Bastasch wrote.

According to Marohasy, โ€œThis suggests that even if there had been no industrial revolution and burning of fossil fuels, there would have still been some warming through the twentieth century โ€“ to at least 1980.โ€35John Abbot and Jennifer Marohasy. โ€œThe application of machine learning for evaluating anthropogenic versus natural climate change,โ€ GeoResJ Vol. 14 (December, 2017).

The study was quickly picked up by other conservative news sources and blogs including Breitbart, Tallboke, and Watts Up With That among others. Marohasy herself wrote on it at The Spectator and at her personal blog.36โ€œMarohasyโ€™s Machine Learning Paper Gets Schooled,โ€ DeSmog, August 27, 2017. 37James Delingpole. โ€œDelingpole: Global Warming Is Almost Entirely Natural, Study Confirms,โ€ Breitbart, August 22, 2017. Archived August 23, 2017, Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/xyart 38โ€œMost of the Recent Warming Could be Natural โ€“ Jennifer Marohasy,โ€ Tallbloke’s Talkshop, August 22, 2017. Archived September 1, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/NUEOu 39โ€œMost of the Recent Warming Could be Natural,โ€ Watts Up With That, August 21, 2017. Archived September 1, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/2dbTQ 40Jennifer Marohasy. โ€œBig data finds the Medieval Warm Period โ€“ no denial here,โ€ Spectator, August 22, 2017. 41โ€œMost of the Recent Warming Could be Natural,โ€ Jennifer Marohasy, August 21, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/c40SL

Graham Readfearn, reporting for The Guardian, contacted five scientists to review the paper. โ€œThey variously summarised the research as ‘junk science’ and seriously flawed,โ€ Readfearn said. He noted that one of the study’s co-authors, John Abbot, โ€œclaimed an academic affiliation to James Cook University that, according to that university, had expired more than six months before the research was submitted to the journal.โ€42Graham Readfearn. โ€œWhy the IPA’s claim global warming is natural is ‘junk science,โ€ The Guardian, August 25, 2017. Archived September 1, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/bb283

Replying on Twitter, climate scientist Gavin Schmidt had this to say:

Speaking with Readfearn, Schmidt added that the paper was worthless โ€œon a number of measuresโ€ and was an example of โ€œwhat happens when people have their conclusions fixed before they start the work.โ€43Graham Readfearn. โ€œWhy the IPA’s claim global warming is natural is ‘junk science,โ€ The Guardian, August 25, 2017. Archived September 1, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/bb283

Readfearn contacted Dr Gavin Schmidt, director of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Prof Steven Sherwood, deputy director at the University of New South Wales climate change research centre; and Prof Piers Forster, director of the Priestley international centre for climate at the University of Leeds, all who pointed out serious flaws in the paper.44Graham Readfearn. โ€œWhy the IPA’s claim global warming is natural is ‘junk science,โ€ The Guardian, August 25, 2017. Archived September 1, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/bb283

July 5, 2017

Michael Bastasch promoted a study at The Daily Caller claiming that โ€œadjustments made to global surface temperature readings by scientists in recent years ‘are totally inconsistent with published and credible U.S. and other temperature data.’โ€45Michael Bastasch. โ€œEXCLUSIVE: Study Finds Temperature Adjustments Account For โ€˜Nearly All Of The Warmingโ€™ In Climate Data,โ€ The Daily Caller, July 5, 2017. Archived August 14, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/MniZG

While Bastasch asserts that the study is peer reviewed, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) reviewed the document,and notes that โ€œpoints almost exclusively to dataset sources, ignoring virtually all peer-reviewed studies that examine the issues that they raise.โ€46โ€œWe Fact-Checked a Bogus ‘Study’ on Global Temperature Thatโ€™s Misleading Readers,โ€ Union of Concerned Scientists, July 21, 2017. Archived August 14, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/gAIQH

UCS senior climate scientist Rachel Licker wrote:

โ€œThere were so many egregious errors and unsubstantiated claims in this document, that I cringed with discomfort that this could be mistaken as a peer-reviewed scientific study.โ€47โ€œWe Fact-Checked a Bogus ‘Study’ on Global Temperature Thatโ€™s Misleading Readers,โ€ Union of Concerned Scientists, July 21, 2017. Archived August 14, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/gAIQH

June 14, 2017

Writing at The Daily Caller, Michael Bastasch claimed new study โ€œdebunked science the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has used to justify imposing costly regulations on U.S. industries.โ€ The study was looking at the association between air quality and acute deaths, for which it found โ€œlittle evidence.โ€48Michael Bastasch. โ€œDEBUNKED: Study Exposes The Huge Flaws In EPA Science,โ€ The Daily Caller, June 14, 2017. Archived July 13, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/21dRU

Even Bastasch notes that the study, published by statistician Stan Young three years ago, faced challenges in getting published in a journal. It was finally accepted by the journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology after being rejected in July 2015 by the journal PLOS One, which said that the EPA was already settled:49Michael Bastasch. โ€œDEBUNKED: Study Exposes The Huge Flaws In EPA Science,โ€ The Daily Caller, June 14, 2017. Archived July 13, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/21dRU

โ€œEPA and other regulatory bodies have long since concluded these associations are causal so I donโ€™t think there is much point in going over this again and again,โ€ the PLOS One editor wrote to Young.50Michael Bastasch. โ€œDEBUNKED: Study Exposes The Huge Flaws In EPA Science,โ€ The Daily Caller, June 14, 2017. Archived July 13, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/21dRU

March 14, 2017

Bastasch wrote an article in The Daily Caller discussing Scott Pruitt’s statement’s that โ€œ I would not agree that [CO2 is] a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.โ€ Bastasch highlights defense of Pruitt’s statements by noted climate change deniers Judith Curry, Roy Spencer, and Roger Pielke, Sr.51Michael Bastasch. โ€œLetโ€™s Talk About Scott Pruittโ€™s โ€˜Denialโ€™ Of Global Warming,โ€ The Daily Caller, March 14, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/KAVwv

โ€œIn my opinion, this is correct and is a healthy position for both the science and policy debates,โ€ Curry had written of Pruitt’s statement on her blog.52Michael Bastasch. โ€œLetโ€™s Talk About Scott Pruittโ€™s โ€˜Denialโ€™ Of Global Warming,โ€ The Daily Caller, March 14, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/KAVwv

February 21, 2017

Writing at The Daily Caller, Michael Bastasch promoted a research report by climate change denier Judith Curry, who had written the report a month prior for the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF). Notably, Curry wrote her report for the noted climate change denial organization shortly after she decided to leave her academic position at Georgia Tech.53โ€œCLIMATE MODELS for the laymanโ€ (PDF), The Global Warming Policy Foundation. PDF document created January 19, 2017. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. 54Michael Bastasch. โ€œClimate Models Are Warming Earth Two Times Faster Than Reality,โ€ The Daily Caller News Foundation, February 21, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/4HJy4

โ€œClimate models show twice as much warming during the 21st Century than whatโ€™s actually been observed, according to a new report highlighting the limitations of global climate models, or GCMs,โ€ Bastasch wrote.55Michael Bastasch. โ€œClimate Models Are Warming Earth Two Times Faster Than Reality,โ€ The Daily Caller News Foundation, February 21, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/4HJy4

The report, titled โ€œClimate Models for the Laymanโ€ argues climate models are unreliable and โ€œnot fit for the purpose of identifying with high confidence the proportion of the 20th century warming that was human-caused as opposed to natural.โ€56โ€œCLIMATE MODELS for the laymanโ€ (PDF), The Global Warming Policy Foundation. PDF document created January 19, 2017. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

December 14, 2016

Bastasch claims a study co-authored by climate change deniers Anthony Watts and Willis Eschenbach is enough to call the IPCC’s predictions of global warming into question, as he wrote in The Daily Caller under an article titled โ€œNew Study Casts Doubt On A Key Metric For Predicting Global Warming.โ€57Michael Bastasch. โ€œNew Study Casts Doubt On A Key Metric For Predicting Global Warming,โ€ The Daily Caller, December 14, 2016. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/UKUmE

โ€œThis study was entirely serendipitous, the result came about from pure curiosity, nothing else,โ€ Watts told The Daily Caller News Foundation.58Michael Bastasch. โ€œNew Study Casts Doubt On A Key Metric For Predicting Global Warming,โ€ The Daily Caller, December 14, 2016. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/UKUmE

Other skeptics cited by Bastasch in the article include Pat Michaels and Chip Knappenberger of the fossil-fuel funded Cato Institute.59Michael Bastasch. โ€œNew Study Casts Doubt On A Key Metric For Predicting Global Warming,โ€ The Daily Caller, December 14, 2016. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/UKUmE

โ€œGoing forward we should expect less warming from future greenhouse gas emissions than climate models are projecting,โ€ Michaels and Knappenberger wrote of the study. They also described it as the โ€œ’death blow’ to global warming hysteria.โ€60Michael Bastasch. โ€œNew Study Casts Doubt On A Key Metric For Predicting Global Warming,โ€ The Daily Caller, December 14, 2016. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/UKUmE

April 25, 2016

Bastasch cited a report by Andrew Montford at the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) claiming there is no connection between droughts and heat waves and global warming.61โ€œPARCHED EARTH POLICY: Drought, heatwave and conflictโ€ (PDF), The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF Briefing 21), 2016. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

โ€œClimate scientists and environmentalists have claimed for years droughts and heatwaves were getting worse because of man-made global warming, but those predictions have not come true, according to a new study,โ€ Bastasch wrote in The Daily Caller.62Michael Bastasch. โ€œPaper: Droughts, Heat Waves Are Not Getting Worse Like Alarmists Predicted,โ€ The Daily Caller, April 25, 2016. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/sVdgU

March 2, 2016

Michael Bastasch was copied on a set of leaked emails, originally obtained by E&E News, from climate change denier Fred Singer. InsideClimate News reported how, in the months before the film โ€œMerchants of Doubtโ€ debuted, Singer had contacted more than two dozen bloggers, public relations specialists and scientists asking for help in derailing the documentary’s release.63โ€œLeaked Email Reveals Who’s Who List of Climate Denialists,โ€ InsideClimate News, March 12, 2015. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/V28gK

โ€œCan I sue for damages?โ€ Singer asked in a October email to which Bastasch was copied. โ€œCan we get an injunction against the documentary?โ€64โ€œLeaked Email Reveals Who’s Who List of Climate Denialists,โ€ InsideClimate News, March 12, 2015. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/V28gK

InsideClimate News noted that โ€œMany of those copied on the email thread, such as Singer and communications specialist Steven Milloy, have financial ties to the tobacco, chemical, and oil and gas industries and have worked to defend them since the 1990s. Others seem relatively new to the denialist camp, such as climate scientist Judith Curry. All, however, have been vocal before Congress, on broadcast news or on the Internet in arguing that human activity is not the primarily driver of climate change.โ€65โ€œLeaked Email Reveals Who’s Who List of Climate Denialists,โ€ InsideClimate News, March 12, 2015. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/V28gK

View the complete chain of Singer emails here.66โ€œRe: Re: Orsekes: File Grievance with Harvard & Standford & UC Dear Christopherโ€ (PDF), October 21, 2014. Archived at DeSmog.

December 4, 2015

Prior to his testimony before congress, organized by senator Ted Cruz, climate science denier Mark Steyn appeared in an interview with Michael Bastasch at The Daily Caller. โ€œSteyn is prepared for Democrat attacks on his credibility and lack of a climate science degree,โ€ Bastasch wrote.67Andrew Seifter. โ€œWhy Is Shock Jock Mark Steyn Testifying At A Senate Hearing On Climate Science?โ€ Media Matters, December 8, 2015. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/HNq1S 68Michael Bastasch. โ€œMark Steyn Will Take On Global Warming Alarmists In Congress,โ€ The Daily Caller, December 4, 2015. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/xmOUW

โ€œThatโ€™s a fair enough question because Iโ€™m not a scientist,โ€ Steyn told The Daily Caller News Foundation. โ€œIf some Democrat on that committee wants to take the hockey stick to me and beat me to a pulp, I donโ€™t mind that.

โ€œI look at all these people bloviating in Paris. Barack Obama and the Prince of Wales arenโ€™t scientists either,โ€ Steyn says. โ€œSince Iโ€™ve been sued by Michael Mann Iโ€™ve been spending more time than I thought on the science.โ€

โ€œScience-wise I can hold my own with โ€˜climate experts,’โ€ he added.69Michael Bastasch. โ€œMark Steyn Will Take On Global Warming Alarmists In Congress,โ€ The Daily Caller, December 4, 2015. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/xmOUW

February 2015

Bastasch wrote two pieces in The Daily Caller highlighting the work of the European Institute for Climate and Energy (EIKE). The first was titled โ€œStudy Predicts Decades Of Global Cooling Aheadโ€ and quotes Langeheine:70Michael Bastasch. โ€œStudy Predicts Decades Of Global Cooling Ahead,โ€ The Daily Caller, May 28, 2015. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/9ftpd

โ€œThe stagnation of temperature since 1998 was caused by decreasing solar activity since 1998,โ€ Langeheine had said.71Michael Bastasch. โ€œStudy Predicts Decades Of Global Cooling Ahead,โ€ The Daily Caller, May 28, 2015. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/9ftpd

Bastasch wrote another piece in the Daily Caller where he claims that Langeheine’s research proved that temperatures are falling globally due to a decline in solar activity.72Michael Bastasch. โ€œPaper: Global Warming? More Like Global Cooling,โ€ The Daily Caller, March 3, 2015. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tZDKH

January 28, 2015

Michael Bastasch wrote at the Daily Caller that โ€œsolar radiation has been melting Siberian ice for 7,000 years,โ€ evidence that โ€œglobal warming is nothing new.โ€ Bastasch was pointing to research from Germanyโ€™s Alfred Wegener Institute and published in the journal Nature Geoscience. Before Bastasch, the study had also been mentioned by Anthony Watts’s Watts Up With That, which had also republished portions of the paper’s original press release.73Michael Bastasch. โ€œStudy: Solar Radiation Has Been Melting Siberian Ice For 7,000 Years,โ€ The Daily Caller, January 28, 2015. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/uKyQX 74Anthony Watts. โ€œStudy: Siberian permafrost has been warming for 7000 years,โ€ Watts Up With That, January 27, 2015. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/2gc0M

ThinkProgress reported that โ€œthe Daily Caller is using the research to reinforce a common trope among climate deniers: that the climate has always been changing, and humans therefore have no effect.โ€ However, ThinkProgress also notes that there is a problem: the research Bastasch cited โ€œdoes not say any of that. It does not show that Siberian ice is โ€œmelting,โ€ and certainly does not show that ‘solar radiation’ is the cause.โ€75Emily Atkin. โ€œScientist Slams Daily Caller For Distorting His Research To Suggest Climate Change Is Fake,โ€ ThinkProgress, February 2, 2015. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/NGIka

They contacted Dr. Thomas Laepple, one of the study’s authors. Laepple told ThinkProgress that while the wording looked โ€œvery closeโ€ to his press release, โ€œsubtle changes were madeโ€ to make it seem like โ€œthe climate always warmed and therefore the human impact would not be important.โ€76Emily Atkin. โ€œScientist Slams Daily Caller For Distorting His Research To Suggest Climate Change Is Fake,โ€ ThinkProgress, February 2, 2015. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/NGIka

Laepple told ThinkProgress that The Daily Callerโ€™s claim that โ€œglobal warming is nothing newโ€ was โ€œmisleading,โ€ as it โ€œattempts to equate a global phenomenon with a seasonal, regional, long-term trend.โ€ In reality, he said, global warming occurs โ€œin all seasons at a pace that is faster than anything we experienced during the last millennia.โ€77Emily Atkin. โ€œScientist Slams Daily Caller For Distorting His Research To Suggest Climate Change Is Fake,โ€ ThinkProgress, February 2, 2015. Archived March 23, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/NGIka

June 2012

After Bastasch wrote a Daily Caller story claiming that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) had โ€œnothing to doโ€ with Florida’s โ€œStand Your Groundโ€ (SYG)/โ€Castle Doctrineโ€ law. Bastasch said that the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) had made the claim that ALEC โ€œdraftedโ€ the law. CMD responded that โ€œwe did not make that claim.โ€78Lisa Graves. โ€œTrained on Koch: Daily Caller Claims Fake Rebuttal of CMD on ALEC Role Promoting ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws,โ€ PR Watch, June 18, 2012. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/D7Sk8

โ€œHad Bastasch done any original research about CMD’s actual original reporting on SYG, he would have seen that CMD is the research organization that documented how ALEC โ€œratifiedโ€ the Florida SYG bill after it was signed into law [โ€ฆ]โ€ Lisa Graves wrote at CMD. โ€œBastasch’s piece raises a question about how Daily Caller fact-checks its stories. If undocumented assertions like those about CMD are passed off as news, the Daily Caller could be said to be acting with reckless disregard for the truth,โ€ she adds.79Lisa Graves. โ€œTrained on Koch: Daily Caller Claims Fake Rebuttal of CMD on ALEC Role Promoting ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws,โ€ PR Watch, June 18, 2012. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/D7Sk8

Graves also notes that Bastasch does not disclose his past internship with ALEC in his piece. โ€œOf course, Bastasch conveniently omits ALEC’s well-documented role supporting the proliferation of ‘Stand Your Groundโ€/โ€Castle Doctrine’ laws across the country, which is not the same as having absolutely nothing to do with these laws,โ€ she also notes.80Lisa Graves. โ€œTrained on Koch: Daily Caller Claims Fake Rebuttal of CMD on ALEC Role Promoting ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws,โ€ PR Watch, June 18, 2012. Archived March 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/D7Sk8

Affiliations

Social Media

Publications

Michael Bastash has written over 3,000 articles at The Daily Caller, with almost 900 of those containing the words โ€œglobal warmingโ€ or โ€œclimate.โ€ At least seventeen of his articles reference climate change โ€œalarmistsโ€ in the title, and many oppose renewable energy such as solar and wind.87โ€œMICHAEL BASTASCH | ALL ARTICLES,โ€ The Daily Caller. Accessed Mach 24, 2017. Archived at DeSmog.

View the attached spreadsheet for a complete list of Michael Bastasch’s publications (.xlsx) that can be filtered by title keyword.

Sample Global Warming Publications

Other Resources

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