{"id":20021,"date":"2026-05-31T20:12:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T03:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gelbspanfiles.com\/?p=20021"},"modified":"2026-05-31T20:42:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T03:42:18","slug":"the-dr-willie-soon-got-1-2-million-from-exxon-accusation-is-still-more-dicey-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gelbspanfiles.com\/?p=20021","title":{"rendered":"The ‘Dr Willie Soon got $1.2 million from Exxon’ Accusation … is still more dicey, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

My prior blog post<\/a> pointed out the irreconcilable difference between reports that Greenpeace administrator Kert Davies<\/a>\u00a0or<\/em><\/strong> Greenpeace worker Jesse Coleman<\/a> was the person who initiated Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests which supposedly exposed the corporate corruption of skeptic climate scientist Dr Willie Soon. Coleman<\/a> or<\/em><\/strong> Davies<\/a> – can’t be both. While I was compiling my prior blog post, I spotted another sizable problem, but I noted that it would have to be a Part 2 separate blog post. So, here it is; the mountainous pile of items showing just how faulty the “crooked skeptic scientists” accusation just keeps getting bigger and more unsustainable to defend.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

In the Feb 27, 2015, Buzzfeed, \u201cGreenpeace Probe Of Climate Naysayer Implicates Exxon Mobil<\/a>\u201d article I featured in my prior blog post (that credited Coleman for the FOIA of the Smithsonian), the new “news” was that Exxon supposedly had pledged to stop funding skeptic scientists in 2007, but a new revelation exposed them ‘paying Dr Soon exactly $76,106’ (in 2008 \/ 2009 \/ 2010<\/a> – hold that three-year thought until later in this blog post) after Exxon said they weren’t doing that anymore. ‘News’ that was exclusive to Buzzfeed and provided to them exclusively by Jesse Coleman, no less<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Problem is, the odd dollar figure amount was not “new” news. It was old news, already broadcast to the world at the Huffington Post<\/em> over 5\u00bd years earlier by Greenpeace’s Kert Davies.<\/p>\n

…After years of denying its role in the campaign of climate denial, Exxon has revealed a dirty secret, that it has and likely still is directly funding junk scientists. … The ExxonMobil 2008 Corporate Citizenship Report and Worldwide Giving Report were just released by the company ahead of their Annual General Meeting … The new Exxon Giving report shows straight pipe funding, in the odd but specific sum of $76,106 to the Smithsonian Astrophysics Observatory<\/strong>, home of Dr. Willie Soon and Dr. Sallie Baliunas. Or we assume<\/strong> the cash went to these two, until Exxon explains itself. …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So… a sinister-sounding $76,106 annual payment wasn’t any sort of new secret revealed through the arduous FOIA effort, it was publicly available, the Internet Archive link<\/a> preserved in Davies’ 2009 HuffPo<\/em> article proves that<\/a>. What Davies didn’t disclose was that right above its entry for the Smithsonian, Exxon gave even more cash to the “Seeds of Peace,” New York, N.Y. group<\/a>. By default, he would also assume the nearly $24,000 larger<\/em> payment came with a directive to infuse climate issue disinformation into what they already did around the world<\/a>, yes? It’s what always happens as the result of fossil fuel money funding, yes?<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the 2015 Buzzfeed article ‘revelation’ makes absolutely no mention<\/em> of the other scientist at the Smithsonian, despite Davies mentioning it no less than eight times in his 2009 HuffPo<\/em> article, including twice in an insulting shortened version<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The same basic story about the Exxon $76,106 cash was rehashed by the UK Guardian<\/em> in late June 2011, dutifully getting a zinger quote<\/a> in from Kert Davies (while mentioning no other involvement by him) where readers appear to be led to believe<\/a> the new ‘news’ of that figure (again, hold the thought about three identical payment figures in 2008 \/ 2009 \/ 2010) came out of a Greenpeace FOIA documents request. Two days after that UK report, the American Grist website breathlessly repeated the same ‘new’ news, but with a seemingly more subtle implication that the $76,000 figure came from newly released FOIA-released documents, while subsequently noting a single document source<\/a>. Its clickable link goes to a single page 2011-created Greenpeace funding list<\/a>. As though that single page is ‘evidence’ of wrongdoing. Who at Greenpeace gets credited for uploading that page to the DocumentsCloud website? Greenpeace’s Connor Gibson<\/a>, one of Kert Davies other associates I mentioned in my prior blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Essentially apparently part of a pattern<\/a>, a regurgitated accusation in search of an audience who’d do something major with it – including people in states Attorneys General offices<\/a>. It’s seen in the current May 2025-filed\u00a0 Hawaii v BP<\/em> lawsuit<\/a>, with its two citation sources being the above-noted single page upload file by Greenpeace’s Connor Gibson and the Grist organizations entire 56-page upload of Exxon’s “2007 Corporate Citizenship Report<\/a>” (Exxon’s single-sentence political correctness effort ‘pledge not to support climate deniers’ isn’t seen until page 41<\/a>). However, people may imply corruption all day long about money buying disinformation, but devoid of any evidence to prove the accused knowingly puts out disinformation, the accusation is “all show and no go.” All hat and no cattle.<\/p>\n

Or is there such evidence? Is that “odd but specific sum of $76,106<\/em>” actually in the FOIA-released docs in a far more nefarious way than just the single-line listing out of the public 2008 Exxon Giving Report?<\/p>\n

Well, the figure itself definitely is in<\/a> the 131-page docs collection<\/a>, multiple times, many redundantly as the result of repeated identical photocopy pages.<\/p>\n

The figure itself is what the Smithsonian Institution’s Advancement & External Affairs administrator was requesting, for Dr Soon’s research. She describes this request in one way or another on PDF file page 1<\/a> \/ page 2<\/a> onto 3 \/ page 6<\/a> \/ page 8<\/a> \/ page 11<\/a> (a duplicate of pg 8) \/ page 14<\/a> \/ page 19<\/a> \/ page 22<\/a> (at first glance looking like a duplicate of\u00a0 page 11, but it’s the same-figure donation arrangement from the previous year) \/ page 23<\/a> \/ and page 35<\/a>. The Smithsonian’s standard “Transmittal Form For Gifts & Promises To Give” has that figure on PDF file page 7<\/a> \/ page 12<\/a> \/ page 21<\/a> (a duplicate of page 7 but with the signature of the Advancement & External Affairs administrator). The “Understanding Solar Variability” proposal itself, a bit over two pages long with footnote citations of peer-reviewed science literature) notes that figure on PDF file page 25<\/a> \/ page 27<\/a>. The basically same proposal that’s directed toward the Southern Company with the lesser figure of $60,000 is seen starting on PDF file page 42<\/a>. Smithsonian’s mention of the $76,106 figure is not seen again in this PDF file again until pages 109<\/a> and 110 for their “Statement Of Financial Activity Detail Report”<\/p>\n

And that is it – almost – for that figure. I’d suggest that for Kert Davies and his “crooked Willie Soon” accusation, the few more instances are where the problem comes into play for him.<\/p>\n

On PDF file page 5<\/a>, there is Exxon’s Senior Director for Federal Relations saying in his March 30, 2009 letter to the Smithsonian’s Advancement & External Affairs administrator …<\/p>\n

ExxonMobil is pleased to provide the enclosed contribution to the Smithsonian Astrophysical<\/strong> Observatory in the amount of $76,106.00 for General Support.<\/strong> …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

General Support.<\/em><\/strong> Capital G<\/strong>, Capital S<\/strong>. Not Dr Soon<\/em>. General support could mean anybody and essentially everybody<\/em> at the Observatory, where by their own explanation<\/a>, the whole organization’s efforts concerned observation of the sun and its effects on climate<\/a>. It’s what they do.<\/p>\n

That Exxon reply page is again duplicated on PDF file page 13<\/a>, but with Exxon’s phone numbers redacted and the 3-ring binder holes missing.This otherwise identically-worded page appears once more on PDF file page 20<\/a>, but has a smaller signature for Exxon’s employee, and the nine months earlier date of June 30, 2008, regarding the first of these identical figure donations to the Smithsonian.<\/p>\n

Remember up above where I said to ‘hold-that-thought’ about Greenpeace’s Jesse Coleman saying there were three $76,106 payments. Only the above two instances, 2008 and 2009, are seen in his 131-page FOIA file. Was that a false embellishment on his part?<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, absolutely nowhere<\/strong><\/em> in this FOIA file is any indication at all that the Exxon money – $76,106 x 2 = $152,212 – comes under the directive to fabricate any false or misleading material.<\/p>\n

Therein lies another potentially major problem for Kert Davies. In the March 2015 E&ENews<\/em> article I pointed in which it described Davies alone initiating<\/a> the FOIA docs search into the Smithsonian, the article also offered this seemingly devastating pair of lines<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In 2009, he wrote emails to his Exxon Mobil funders where he exulted about challenging former Vice President Al Gore during a climate conference on the practical implications of climate change.<\/p>\n

Soon also offered to stop by the Exxon Mobil offices in Washington, D.C., “and just say hello and brief you on all the exciting science progress regarding my sun-climate research.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Whenever a news outlet puts a specific series of words between quotation marks, it signifies that the words are verbatim<\/a> from a source.<\/p>\n

There are no such words to that effect anywhere in the 131-page Smithsonian FOIA docs. The only thing that resembles a direct communication between Dr Soon and any Exxon official is seen at the bottom of PDF file page 33<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I know of no other copies of the Smithsonian-released FOIA documents, they are all the same 131-page PDF file copy, including the 2017 copy version Davies features at his Climate Files site<\/a>. To yell “corruption,” you need the evidence<\/a> to back that up.<\/p>\n

If he has ‘smoking gun’ FOIA pages with those bits about the Al Gore challenge and “just say hello” …. what possible reason would he have for not sharing that kind of thing with the public? And where’s the missing FOIA page showing the third $76,106 2010 payment to the Smithsonian?<\/p>\n

Just askin<\/a>.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My prior blog post pointed out the irreconcilable difference between reports that Greenpeace administrator Kert Davies\u00a0or Greenpeace worker Jesse Coleman was the person who initiated Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests which supposedly exposed the corporate corruption of skeptic climate … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[166,18],"tags":[204,46],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gelbspanfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20021"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gelbspanfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gelbspanfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gelbspanfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gelbspanfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20021"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/gelbspanfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20029,"href":"http:\/\/gelbspanfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20021\/revisions\/20029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gelbspanfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gelbspanfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gelbspanfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}