Politicians who wanted to impede legislation restricting fossil fuels and denying climate change could shake a clenched fist holding a study on paper supporting their views - until it was discovered that Wei-Hock Soon, the scientist in charge of the study, accepted more than $1.2 million from the fossil-fuel industry without disclosing that funding in his papers.
Soon, known as "Willie," according to The Seattle Times, was the champion of scientific evidence for climate change denial. Soon, a scientist at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, appeared on television and in front of Congress saying that the sun's energy is responsible for global warming - not the use of fossil fuels.
Recently released documents show that Soon failed to disclose the $1.2 million he received in funding from 14 corporate funders, according to Gizmodo. Soon has published at least 11 papers since 2008 that omit such a disclosure and, according to The Seattle Times, at least eight contain ethical violations of the publishing journals' guidelines.
Documentation, obtained by Greenpeace under the Freedom of Information Act, also includes correspondence between Soon and the corporate interests calling many of the studies "deliverables" - scientific papers completed in exchange for money. Soon also referred to his Congressional testimony as a "deliverable," according to The Seattle Times.
The newly released documents show that at least $409,000 of Soon's funding in the past 10 years came from Southern Company Services, a subsidiary of the Southern Company, based in Atlanta, Ga., according to The New York Times.
"The whole doubt-mongering strategy relies on creating the impression of scientific debate," said science historian at Harvard, Naomi Oreskes, according to The Seattle Times. "Willie Soon is playing a role in a certain kind of political theater."
"What it shows is the continuation of a long-term campaign by specific fossil-fuel companies and interests to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change," said Climate Investigations Center Executive Director Kert Davies. Climate Investigations Center released the documents to the media with Greenpeace.
Harvard-Smithsonian Center Director Charles Alcock, said on Friday that Soon had indeed violated the disclosure standards of some journals in which his scientific papers were published. "I think that's inappropriate behavior," Alcock said, according to The Seattle Times. "This frankly becomes a personnel matter, which we have to handle with Dr. Soon internally."
The Smithsonian Institution is Soon's employer, which sponsors the astrophysics center with Harvard. "I am aware of the situation with Willie Soon, and I'm very concerned about it," said W. John Kress, interim undersecretary for science at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. "We are checking into this ourselves."
This isn't the first time that Soon's work has come into question. In 2011, Reuters reported that Soon received $131,000 from Exxon Mobil Corp. Exxon spokesperson Alan Jeffers told Reuters, "Greenpeace needs to get into the 21st century; they're still fighting a war to try to make a villain here, when there's a very serious issue about how you deal with emissions and energy needs that go with growing economies around the world."
In 2011, Soon told Reuters, "I have never been motivated by financial reward in any of my scientific research. I would have accepted money from Greenpeace if they had offered it to do my research."
Soon did not respond to recent requests for a statement, but in 2013, he denied money would affect his studies findings. "I write proposals; I let them decide whether to fund me or not," Soon said in 2013 at an event in Madison, Wis., according to The Seattle Times. "If they choose to fund me, I'm happy to receive it."
"I would never be motivated by money for anything," he added.
