Fox's purported business expert Eric Bolling
routinely advances falsehoods about climate change, airing views
and hosting guests that reinforce skeptics' claims that global
warming "is just a big scam." Bolling, "once one of the biggest
individual traders of oil and energy futures," also regularly
pushes offshore drilling on-air. Bolling Was A Major Oil And
Energy Trader NJ Star-Ledger : "At His Peak," Bolling "Accounted
For 5 Percent Of The Daily Trading" On Oil And Energy Futures. In
a June 2008 profile of Bolling, The Star-Ledger of Newark, New
Jersey, followed Bolling for an entire day of trading, reporting:
"Once one of the biggest individual traders of oil and energy
futures on Nymex [New York Mercantile Exchange] -- at his peak,
he says, he accounted for 5 percent of the daily trading -- he
has scaled back. Much of his money is now invested in shares of
energy companies. A good amount of the consummate trader's money
is now in cash." [ The Star-Ledger , 6/29/08] Trader Daily: Bolling Was Touted As One Of 100 Top Industry
Players. According to the Trader Daily website, Bolling was "an
extremely successful commodities trader" and "was a regular" on
the now-defunct Trader Monthly magazine's annual " 'Trader 100'
list of top industry players." [Trader Daily, 1/19/11] According to Fox Business, Bolling Still "Trades Equities,
Options And Derivatives," And Is A Member Of Several Exchanges.
From Bolling's Fox Business biography: He has recently served as
an independent trader based out of the New York Mercantile
Exchange (NYMEX), the world's largest trading center for energy.
He specialized in trading a variety of commodities such as crude
oil, gold and agricultural commodities. He served on the NYMEX's
Board of Directors for five years, and subsequently acted as a
strategic advisor there. Bolling actively trades equities,
options and derivatives and is a member of the Intercontinental
Exchange (ICE), the NYMEX and the Commodities Exchange of New
York. [Fox Business, accessed on 2/8/11] Bolling: "Oil May Be The Only Viable World Currency, Not The
Dollar Nor The Chinese Yuan." During a recent interview with the
Trader Daily website, Bolling was asked, "If you were going to
start out as a trader today, would you start out in oil futures,
as you did the first time around?" He replied: "Oil/energy. It is
the lifeblood of our economy and the world's economy. In fact,
oil may be the only viable world currency, not the dollar nor the
Chinese yuan. So, yes -- I would start and end in energy."
[Trader Daily, 1/19/11] Bolling Frequently Uses Fox Platform To Push For More Drilling
Bolling: "Why Shouldn't We Be Drilling Our Own Crude Oil?"
Discussing the Egypt protests and what it means for airlines'
bottom line, Bolling stated that airlines are "very sensitive to
price -- fuel price spikes. And the problem is ... we are
sensitive. America is sensitive to fuel price spikes -- all
fuels, except for one, natural gas, because we drill it here. We
have enough here." He then asked: "So why shouldn't we be
drilling our own crude oil?" He later added that the United
States has "plenty of oil right here." [Fox Business, Follow the
Money , 2/3/11] Bolling Guest Bo Dietl: "Let's Drill. Let's Drill
Up This ANWAR. Let's Get Our Own Self-Containment Deal." Bolling
hosted Fox News contributor Bo Dietl, a former New York City
Police Department detective, to discuss the unrest in Egypt and
what it meant for fuel prices. Dietl advocated for drilling to
counter the high fuel prices, saying: "You have ANWAR. You have
-- you could do the horizontal drilling. You could do all kinds
of things. There are technologies. We have a lot of oil here. We
have to stop begging for ourselves in the Middle East. And that's
exactly what we're doing every time there's something happening:
'Please, Mr. Arab. Please don't take our oil away.' I'm sick and
tired of doing it. Let's drill. Let's drill up this ANWAR. Let's
get our own self-containment deal." [Fox Business, Follow the
Money , 2/3/11] Bolling Suggests The "Solution" To High Oil
Prices Is "Drill Baby Drill." In a post on his Twitter feed,
Bolling wrote: "Gov. [Sean] Parnell of Alaska knows what the
solution to high oil prices... drill baby drill": [Twitter, 1/28/11] Bolling: "With World Oil Prices Surging ... Shouldn't We Be
Drilling Here, Now???" In a post on Facebook announcing Parnell
as his guest, Bolling wrote: "We have Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell
tonight... with world oil prices surging on Middle East
rioting... shouldn't we be drilling here, now???" [Facebook, 1/28/11] Bolling: "Drill Here, Drill Now ... Drill, Baby, Drill." In the
wake of the BP oil spill, Bolling responded by calling for a
continuation of offshore drilling, suggesting that the
"six-dollar, seven-dollar diesel fuel" is "more harmful" for
fishermen than the oil spill. He said: "We need to drill here,
drill now, and hey, drill, baby, drill." [Fox News, The O'Reilly
Factor , 4/30/10] Bolling Uses Egyptian Unrest To Shill For More Oil Drilling.
After noting that the wholesale price of gasoline had jumped in
the wake of protests in Egypt, Bolling stated that the United
States could replicate what he claimed happened in July 2008,
when then-President Bush removed the moratorium on offshore
drilling, saying, "Within six months, oil went to $33 a barrel."
He then asked: "The thought of being able to drill more, what
would that do to the price of oil?" Former Shell Oil president
John Hofmeister replied that the United States should be
producing its own oil to alleviate world demand. Bolling
concluded: "My point was, it didn't matter if there's protesting
in the streets. If -- it affects the price of gas and oil if
there is. It didn't matter to natural gas, with the protesting,
because we produce the natural gas that we use right here in
America. Isn't that a case for drilling our own oil, not natural
gas, but oil?" [Fox News, Glenn Beck , 2/2/11] Bolling Guest: "We're Shutting Down Drilling In Our Own Gulf Of
Mexico? This Is Absurd." Discussing how "scared" he was if the
flow of oil from the Middle East were to be disrupted, Bolling
asked Hofmeister to tell viewers "how important that Middle
Eastern -- those two chokepoints, the Suez Canal and the Strait
of Hormuz" are and "keeping flow oil through there is."
Hofmeister replied: "We've known for decades how vulnerable we
are, Eric, to these chokepoints. And there have been all kinds of
scenarios and games played out in terms of what might happen. We
use as a world 85 million barrels a day. The United States uses
20 million barrels a day, every day -- 10,000 gallons a second.
And we're shutting down drilling in our own Gulf of Mexico? This
is absurd." [Fox News, Glenn Beck , 2/2/11] Bolling Hosted Guest With Energy Ties To Argue Against Oil
Drilling Moratorium. On his Fox Business show, Bolling let former
Sen. George Allen argue against the oil drilling moratorium and
the "cap-and-trade scheme" for eight long minutes, failing to
disclose that Allen's organization has received backing from the
oil industry and that his political strategies company says it
provides "lobbying counsel, consulting and strategic advice on a
range of issues including energy." [Fox Business, Money Rocks , 6/24/10] Bolling: China Is "Probably Drilling Offshore" And Taking Oil
That "Could And Should Be Helping Our Situation." On Fox News'
Your World , Bolling asserted that, according to offshore oil
"drillers" with whom he had spoken, "China was probably drilling
offshore, very close to our shore through Cuba, and taking some
of that oil that -- that honestly could -- could and should be
helping our situation." He also advanced the claim from oil and
drilling companies that it would take less than 10 years to
retrieve oil from offshore sites, adding, "some said up as close
as one year." [Fox News, Your World with Neil Cavuto , 7/1/08] Bolling: Did Obama "Let" BP Oil Leak So He "Could Renege On His
Promise" To "Allow Some Offshore Drilling?" On Fox Business'
Happy Hour , Bolling invented a conspiracy theory about the BP
oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, asking guest Alan Colmes: "Are
you sure they didn't let [the oil spill] leak so he could renege
on his promise to allow some offshore drilling?" Colmes replied:
"Oh, that's what -- it's a big conspiracy. Hey, there's a black
helicopter. Yeah, it's all about reneging on a permit, that's
right." [Fox Business, Happy Hour , 5/27/10] Bolling Wondered If Oil Leak Was An Act Of Sabotage "To Try And
Pull Drilling." Discussing the oil spill, Bolling stated: "The
question is, did they let this thing leak? I mean, BP said maybe
a thousand barrels a day, it went to five thousand. Did they let
it leak a little bit and say, boy I don't know. The conspiracy
theorists would say, 'Maybe they'd let it leak for a while, and
then they addressed the issue.' " Bolling added: "That would be a
humongous accusation and probably the net result would be no
different, but if they're going to try and pull drilling, that
may be the way they do it." [Fox News, Fox amp; Friends , 5/3/10] Bolling Routinely Sows Confusion About Climate Science Bolling:
"Blizzard Versus Global Warming. Who Do You Believe: Al Gore Or
Your Freezing Butt?" On his Fox Business show, teasing an
upcoming segment on energy policy, Bolling asked: "Blizzard
versus global warming. Who do you believe: Al Gore or your
freezing butt?" He later stated: "A massive storm just swept
through the country, so it's a great time to start talking about
what? Global warming." [Fox Business, Follow the Money , 2/2/11]
Bolling: Warming Of The Earth Is "Disputed." On his show, Bolling
called into question the science behind climate change, saying
that the "basis for the argument on global warming or climate
change" is "up for debate." Bolling added: "This is just a big
scam." From the show: BOLLING: Garland, where do you stand? I
mean... GARLAND NIXON (radio talk host): Well, there are three
things that are not in dispute amongst -- throughout the
scientific community, No. 1, the surface temperature of the earth
is rising. BOLLING: Disputed. NIXON: OK, No, 2, that it is caused
by the CO2 gases... BOLLING: Also disputed. NIXON: And No. 3,
that the CO2 gasses are primarily caused by -- the rise in CO2
gasses are primarily caused by burning fossil fuels. It may be
disputed, but if 99 people say something and one person disputes
it... BOLLING: ...are disputed and all three of them happen to
be, you know, the basis for the argument on global warming or
climate change and all three of them are up for debate. NIXON: I
said within the scientific community. [...] BOLLING: I will tell
you unequivocally, I remember this, "Newsweek," the cover of
"Newsweek" magazine saying, the impending, the coming ice age,
because temperatures were going down. What about it? This is just
a big scam. [Fox Business, Follow the Money , 1/10/11, via Nexis]
Bolling Mocked Global Warming. In a post on his Twitter feed,
Bolling mocked global warming, writing: "Global Warming.hahaha.
Yesterday....Houston first snow earliest on record and its
snowing here right now!" [Twitter, 12/1/09] Bolling: Snow "Breaking Al Gore's Heart Because" It's "Burying
His Global Warming Theory." On Fox News' Your World , Bolling
stated: "The mid-Atlantic region on the verge of breaking
all-time records for snowfall, up to 16 inches already falling in
parts of Maryland, and it's not just the Northeast. Sixty-three
percent of the country is now covered in snow and it's breaking
Al Gore's heart because the snow is also burying his global
warming theory." [Fox News, Your World with Neil Cavuto , 2/10/10] Bolling Falsely Suggested Snow Disproves Global Warming. On Fox
amp; Friends , referring to the 2010 United Nations Climate
Change Conference in Cancun, Bolling stated: "I think, a couple
of years ago, they were in Washington. It was snowed out. The
global warming issue wasn't, I guess, a factor there. But they
solved that problem going to Cancun." [Fox News, Fox amp; Friends
, 12/9/09] Bolling: "The Globe Gets Warmer And It Gets Cooler." On his Fox
Business show, Bolling repeatedly cited a Newsweek article from
1975, saying the article is proof that "the globe gets warmer and
it gets cooler and it's not a matter of one direction or the
other." Bolling also referred to the manufactured "Climategate"
scandal, saying that "a climate center in England basically said,
hey, let's hide some of the science in these e-mails, let's make
sure we don't expose all, you know, the science." [Fox Business,
Follow the Money , 1/11/11, via Nexis] Bolling: "Thirty Years Ago, We Worried About Global
Cooling. Now We're Worried About Global Warming." During an
interview with Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Bolling read headlines
from 1974 about cooling temperatures and stated, "Thirty years
ago, we worried about global cooling. Now we're worried about
global warming. Is this not just the global cooling and warming
over the course of 30-year periods?" [Fox News, Your World With
Neil Cavuto , 2/11/10, accessed via Nexis] Bolling: "I think We
Warm And We Cool. It's The Globe." Discussing a Rasmussen poll
asking respondents "how likely is it that some scientists have
falsified research data," Bolling stated: "Listen, you know where
I stand on this. I'm not -- I think we warm and we cool. It's the
globe." [Fox News, Fox amp; Friends , 12/4/09] Bolling Hosted Skeptic To Claim "There Is No Global Warming."
Bolling hosted Brian Sussman, radio host and author of
Climategate: A Veteran Meteorologist Exposes The Global Warming
Scam , who asserted that "there is no global warming." Sussman
claimed that the "hottest decade in history was the 1930s":
BOLLING: Even if we were to agree, which I'm not sure we are
going to agree on it. But, what is it? Somewhere around a half a
degree over the last 30 years the globe has warmed. Is that
enough to effect that much change and really need that much
regulation? SUSSMAN: Yeah so, Alan's cute with these "Oh you're a
flat earther" -- Listen, I've got 300 footnotes in my book. I'm
using government data to prove my point. And you're absolutely
right, since the little ice age, plane, train, automobile, leaf
blower, lawn mower, all invented, population of the earth grown
exponentially. The temperatures warm .7 degrees Celsius and most
of that occurred before 1940 and the hottest decade in history
was the 1930s not these last 10 years, so there is no global
warming.[Fox Business, Follow the Money , 1/31/11] Bolling again hosted Sussman on February 2 to attack Obama's
stated goal to have 80 percent of America's electricity come from
clean energy sources by 2035. Saying it wasn't possible to
achieve that goal, Sussman added: "We have a bunch of eco freaks
now in charge of the country. These are people who believe it's
immoral, immoral for anyone to make a profit off of the natural
resource -- in this case, it's fossil fuel. That's why they
demonize the fossil fuel increase." While Sussman spoke, images
of the snowstorm flashed onscreen. [Fox Business, Follow the
Money , 2/2/11, via Nexis] Bolling Suggested There Is No Proof
The Globe Is Warming. Discussing clean energy on February 2,
Bolling stated: "It used to be cold in the '60s. Is there any
proof of -- I mean, again, you say we should all agree that the
globe is warming. I'm not sure I agree with that assessment."
Sussman replied: "No, no. The globe warms and it cools, and right
now, we may indeed be going into a cooling phase." Bolling
interjected: "Exactly." [Fox Business, Follow the Money , 2/2/11]
Bolling: "Honestly, It Was Global Warming, And Then Things Got
Cold So They Called It 'Climate Change.' " During the same
February 2 segment, Branden Daly, former communications director
for Rep. Nancy Pelosi, pointed out: "Global warming is also known
as climate change. So, scientists have told us that not only are
there gonna be more extreme summers, that sometimes we'll have
more severe winter storms, as well. So, just the fact that we've
had a severe storm in the Midwest doesn't mean that it's not
climate change." Bolling replied: "Mr. Daly, honestly --
honestly, it was global warming, and then things got cold so they
called it 'climate change.' " Bolling added: "It's not unlike --
not unlike the Obama administration sort of first saying that the
stimulus plan, the $800 billion stimulus plan, was going to
create 4 million jobs and then it was 3 million jobs and then it
was 2 million jobs, and then it was 'save or create' and no one
could figure out what that means." [Fox Business, Follow the
Money , 2/2/11] Bolling Cited Research From Organization With
Heavy Ties To Energy Industry In Order To Criticize EPA. Bolling
cited research from the Institute for Energy Research to
criticize fuel efficiency standards set by the Environmental
Protection Agency. The institute has heavy ties to the energy
industry, which Bolling did not disclose. For example, the
institute's president has lobbied for Koch Industries, a large
private company with heavy interests in the oil industry, and the
organization has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from
ExxonMobil. [Fox Business, Happy Hour , 4/2/10] Bolling Revived Debunked Climate Email Claim In Attack On
Scientist. Bolling used a grant awarded under the stimulus bill
to climate scientist Michael Mann to revive the debunked claim
that emails stolen from the Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia
University, some of which were written by Mann, undermine the
scientific consensus on manmade global warming. His guest, Tom
Borelli, further stated that Mann was "at the center" of the
controversy, adding, "[T]hese emails that they're all looking at,
it seems like the scientists themselves don't believe there's
such a consensus because they have their conclusion that man's
causing it, and now they're trying to ram the data to force-fit
it. It's the round peg in the square hole." Bolling did not
disclose the fact that Borelli's organization, the National
Center for Public Policy Research, has received funding from the
oil industry. [Fox News, Glenn Beck , 1/15/10] Climate Researchers Agree Human Activity A Contributing Factor
In Warming Trend Recent Warming Trend Is Established By
Temperature Measurements, Other Observations. The National
Climatic Data Center explains that the "warming trend that is
apparent in all of the independent methods of calculating global
temperature change is also confirmed by other independent
observations": Thousands of land and ocean temperature
measurements are recorded each day around the globe. This
includes measurements from climate reference stations, weather
stations, ships, buoys and autonomous gliders in the oceans.
These surface measurements are also supplemented with satellite
measurements. These measurements are processed, examined for
random and systematic errors, and then finally combined to
produce a time series of global average temperature change. A
number of agencies around the world have produced datasets of
global-scale changes in surface temperature using different
techniques to process the data and remove measurement errors that
could lead to false interpretations of temperature trends. The
warming trend that is apparent in all of the independent methods
of calculating global temperature change is also confirmed by
other independent observations, such as the melting of mountain
glaciers on every continent, reductions in the extent of snow
cover, earlier blooming of plants in spring, a shorter ice season
on lakes and rivers, ocean heat content, reduced arctic sea ice,
and rising sea levels. [National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, National Climatic Data Center, accessed 1/14/11] Survey: 97 Percent of 77 Active Climate Scientists Said "Human
Activity Is A Significant Contributing Factor" In Changing Global
Temperatures. A survey of Earth scientists conducted by
University of Illinois Earth and Environmental Sciences professor
Peter Doran and former graduate student Maggie Kendall Zimmerman
found that there was an overwhelming consensus on human activity
being a "contributing factor" in changing global temperatures.
From the survey: 1. When compared with pre-1800s levels, do you
think that mean global temperatures have generally risen, fallen,
or remained relatively constant? 2. Do you think human activity
is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global
temperatures? With 3146 individuals completing the survey, the
participant response rate for the survey was 30.7%. This is a
typical response rate for Web-based surveys. [...] Results show
that overall, 90% of participants answered "risen" to question 1
and 82% answered yes to question 2. In general, as the level of
active research and specialization in climate science increases,
so does agreement with the two primary questions. In our survey,
the most specialized and knowledgable respondents (with regard to
climate change) are those who listed climate science as their
area of expertise and who also have published more than 50% of
their recent peer-reviewed papers on the subject of climate
change (79 individuals in total). Of these specialists, 96.2% (76
of 79) answered "risen" to question 1 and 97.4% (75 of 77)
answered yes to question 2. [ Eos, Transactions, American
Geophysical Union , 1/20/09] Study: 97-98 Percent Of The Most Active Climate Researchers
Support Tenets Of Human-Caused Climate Change . From a study led
by William Anderegg of Stanford University: Although preliminary
estimates from published literature and expert surveys suggest
striking agreement among climate scientists on the tenets of
anthropogenic climate change (ACC), the American public expresses
substantial doubt about both the anthropogenic cause and the
level of scientific agreement underpinning ACC. A broad analysis
of the climate scientist community itself, the distribution of
credibility of dissenting researchers relative to agreeing
researchers, and the level of agreement among top climate experts
has not been conducted and would inform future ACC discussions.
Here, we use an extensive dataset of 1,372 climate researchers
and their publication and citation data to show that (i) 97-98%
of the climate researchers most actively publishing in the field
support the tenets of ACC outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, and (ii) the relative climate expertise and
scientific prominence of the researchers unconvinced of ACC are
substantially below that of the convinced researchers. [
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 6/21/10]
