Are you saying that the evidence that Big Oil and other carbon-intensive industries have been engaging in a decades-long campaign to protect their profits and limit any future liability that their pollution might cause is all faked?

The Heartland Institute receives money from corporations and extremely wealthy individuals to lobby on their behalf on specific issues. Regulation of CO2 emissions is one of these issues. What do you think the real strategy document for 2012 might look like? Why do you think the HI is funding people like Fred Singer, Craig Idso and Bob Watson? Because it certainly doesn't seem to have anything to do with legitimate scientific research.

This leak is just the latest in a long line of evidence showing how the oil industry is influencing policy to protect its interests. Now, you could say that these corporations are entirely justified in protecting themselves against proposed regulations that will affect their profit margin. But the question then becomes - with the massive profits being made by oil corporations, how can we prevent them weilding their considerable power to establish direct links to policymakers in order to create policies that serve corporate interests rather than the public. How can we overcome the protection of the status quo at all costs in the face of a changing climate? How can we ensure that climate and energy policy is driven by clear, informed science rather than misinformation funded and promoted by special interests?