| Type | 501(c)(3) |
|---|---|
| Location | 19 South LaSalle Street Suite 903 Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Key people | President and CEO: Joseph L. Bast Executive VP: Kevin Fitzgerald Chairman: Herbert J. Walberg |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Revenue | US$6.8 million (2009)[1] |
| Website | www.heartland.org |
The Heartland Institute is a conservative[2][3] and self-described libertarian[4][5] public policy think tank based in Chicago, Illinois which advocates free market policies. The Institute is designated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit by the Internal Revenue Service and advised by a 15 member board of directors, which meets quarterly. As of 2011, it has a full-time staff of 40, including editors and senior fellows.[4] The Institute was founded in 1984 and conducts research and advocacy work on issues including government spending, taxation, healthcare, tobacco policy, global warming, information technology and free-market environmentalism.
In the 1990s, the group worked with the tobacco company Philip Morris to question the science linking secondhand smoke to health risks, and to lobby against government public health reforms.[6][7][8] More recently, the Institute has focused on questioning the scientific consensus on climate change, and has sponsored meetings of climate change skeptics.[9]
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In its early years, the Heartland Institute focused on policies relevant to the Midwestern United States. Since 1993 it has focused on reaching elected officials and opinion leaders in all 50 states. In addition to research, the Heartland Institute features an Internet application called PolicyBot which serves as a clearinghouse for research from other conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council, and the libertarian Cato Institute. The Institute's president and CEO is Joseph L. Bast.
The Heartland Institute questions the scientific consensus on climate change, arguing that global warming is not occurring and, further, that warming would be beneficial if it did occur.[10] The institute is a member organization of the Cooler Heads Coalition, which describes itself as "an informal and ad-hoc group focused on dispelling the myths of global warming."[11] In Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway wrote that the Heartland Institute was known "for its persistent questioning of climate science, for its promotion of 'experts' who have done little, if any, peer-reviewed climate research, and for its sponsorship of a conference in New York City in 2008 alleging that the scientific community's work on global warming is fake."[8]
Since 2008 the Heartland Institute has sponsored the twice-yearly International Conference on Climate Change, bringing together hundreds of global warming skeptics. Speakers have included Richard Lindzen, a professor of meteorology at MIT; Roy Spencer, a former NASA scientist; S. Fred Singer, who was founding dean of the School of Environmental and Planetary Sciences at the University of Miami and founding director of the National Weather Satellite Service; Harrison Schmitt, a former NASA astronaut and Apollo 17 moonwalker; and John Theon, a former NASA administrator. In the first conference, for example, participants criticized the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore.[12][7] The BBC reported that the heavily politicized nature of the Heartland conferences led some "moderate" climate skeptics to avoid them.[9]
In 2008 a bibliography written by Dennis Avery was posted on Heartland’s Web site, titled "500 Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares,”[13][14] In late April 2008, Heartland reported that the web site DeSmogBlog had "targeted The Heartland Institute in late April 2008, and in particular two lists posted on Heartland’s Web site of scientists whose published work contradicts some of the main tenets of global warming alarmism." [14] The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the work of Jim Salinger, chief scientist at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, was "misrepresented" as part of a "denial campaign".[15]
In response to criticism, the Heartland Institute changed the title of the list to “500 Scientists Whose Research Contradicts Man-Made Global Warming Scares.” [14] Heartland did not remove any of the scientists' names from the list.[14][15] Dennis Avery explained, "Not all of these researchers would describe themselves as global warming skeptic"..."but the evidence in their studies is there for all to see.”[14] Heartland’s president, Joseph Bast, wrote “They have no right -- legally or ethically -- to demand that their names be removed from a bibliography composed by researchers with whom they disagree. Their names probably appear in hundreds or thousands of bibliographies accompanying other articles or in books with which they disagree. Do they plan to sue hundreds or thousands of their colleagues? The proper response is to engage in scholarly debate, not demand imperiously that the other side redact its publications.”[14]
In the 1990s, the Heartland Institute worked with Philip Morris to question the link between secondhand smoke and health risks.[7][16] Philip Morris used Heartland to distribute tobacco-industry material, and arranged for the Heartland Institute to publish "policy studies" which summarized Philip Morris reports.[16][17] The Heartland Institute also undertook a variety of other activities on behalf of Philip Morris, including meeting with legislators, holding "off-the-record" briefings, and producing op-eds, radio interviews, and letters.[16][18] In 1994, at the request of Philip Morris, the Heartland Institute met with Republican Congressmen to encourage them to oppose increases in the federal excise tax. Heartland reported back to Philip Morris that the Congressmen were "strongly in our camp", and planned further meetings with other legislators.[19]
The Heartland Institute is a critic of the current Federal budget and tax code. Several of Heartland Institute's budgetary views include privatization of Federal services to a competitive marketplace, changing the tax code to a more simplified version of the current code, and implementing Taxpayer Savings Grants.
The Heartland Institute supports the availability of charter schools, providing education tax credits to attend private schools, expanding federal vouchers for low-income students to attend a public or private school of their family's choosing, and the Parent Trigger reform that started in California. The Heartland Institute argues that market reforms should be introduced into the public education system to increase competition and provide more options and greater choice for parents and their children. [20]
The Heartland Institute advocates for free-market reforms in healthcare and opposes federal control over the healthcare industry. Heartland supports Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), replacing federal tax deductions for employer-based healthcare with a refundable tax credit to allow individual choice over health insurance, removing state and Federal healthcare regulations aimed at providers and consumers of healthcare, and reducing litigation costs which are associated with malpractice suits. [21]
The Heartland Institute publishes five monthly public policy newspapers aimed at state legislators. These include: Budget and Tax News, which advocates lower taxes and balanced budgets for states and the federal government; School Reform News, which calls for greater competition and school choice; Environment & Climate News, which focuses on "market-based environmental protection"; Health Care News, devoted to consumer-driven health care reform and edited by Ben Domenech; and Infotech and Telecom News, which covers the technology and telecommunications industries from a free market perspective. The five monthly publications have a circulation total of nearly 200,000.[22]
The Heartland Institute does not disclose its funding sources. According to its brochures, the Heartland Institute receives money from approximately 1,600 individuals and organizations, and no single corporate entity donates more than 5% of the operating budget.[23] Heartland states that it does not accept government funds and does not conduct contract research for special-interest groups.[24]
MediaTransparency reported that the Heartland Institute received funding from politically conservative foundations such as the Castle Rock Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the John M. Olin Foundation, and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.[25]
Oil and gas companies have contributed to the Heartland Institute, including over $600,000 from ExxonMobil between 1998 and 2005.[26] Greenpeace reported that the Heartland Institute received almost $800,000 from ExxonMobil.[15] In 2008, ExxonMobil said that they would stop funding to groups skeptical of climate warming, including Heartland[27][26][28]. Joseph Bast, president of the Heartland Institute, argued that ExxonMobil was simply distancing itself from Heartland out of concern for its public image.[26]
The Heartland Institute has also received funding and support from the tobacco company Philip Morris.[16]
The Independent reported that Heartland's receipt of donations from Exxon and Philip Morris indicates a "direct link"..."between anti-global warming sceptics funded by the oil industry and the opponents of the scientific evidence showing that passive smoking can damage people's health."[7]
As of 2006, the Walton Family Foundation (run by the family which founded Wal-Mart) had contributed approximately $300,000 to the Heartland Institute. The Heartland Institute published an op-ed in the Louisville Courier-Journal defending Wal-Mart against criticism over its treatment of workers. The Walton Family Foundation donations were not disclosed in the op-ed, and the editor of the Courier-Journal stated that he was unaware of the connection and would probably not have published the op-ed had he known of it.[29] The St. Petersburg Times described the Heartland Institute as "particularly energetic defending Wal-Mart."[29] Heartland has stated that its authors were not "paid to defend Wal-Mart" and did not receive funding from the corporation; it did not disclose the $300,000+ received from the Walton Family Foundation.[29]
List of scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming