Science and Environmental Policy Project

The Science & Environmental Policy Project (SEPP) is an organization run by S. Fred Singer. As an organization they are skeptical about ozone depletion and global warming.

History
Prof. S. Fred Singer founded the Science & Environmental Policy Project (SEPP) in 1990. It began as a research effort for a book Dr. Singer was writing on global warming.

At least four of his books have been published by Paragon House Publishers which is, since 1981, owned by UC's International Cultural Foundation (ICF). Mr. Singer was for several years a member of the Advisory Board of the monthly magazine The World and I for which he and his wife, Candace Crandall, wrote several articles over a time span of more than 10 years. The World and I which since june 2004 only exists as a web site, is just as the Washington Times owned by UC's News World Communications. Other people at SEPP with links to UC are Tor Ragnar Gerholm and the late Michael Higatsberger who were active in the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS), while Gerhard St&ouml;hrer and Candace Crandall were both involved with the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy.

In February 1992 SEPP published the "Statement by Atmospheric Scientists on Greenhouse Warming" expressing alarm about the agenda for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, known as the Earth Summitt, which ocurred in November in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. (See SEPP and the Statement by Atmospheric Scientists on Greenhouse Warming).

In an article, "Scientists Ripped As Alarmists in Ecology Warning", by M. Schunkmann published on November 21, 1992 by the St. Louis Post, Candace Crandall was listed as the executive director of SEPP. 

SEPP and the International Institute of George Mason University organized on May 24 & 25, 1993 in the Madison Hotel in Washington a conference called "Scientific Integrity in the Public Policy Process". The debating points included the use and misuse of scientific data in relation to radon, asbestos, global warming, ozone depletion, passive smoking, pesticides, etc. Participants were:


 * Philip Abelson, deputy editor Science
 * Elliot Abrams, senior vice president, meteorologist, Accu-Weather, Inc.
 * Donald Barnes, director EPA Science Advisory Board
 * Robert Bidinotto, Reader's Digest
 * C.J.F. B&ouml;ttcher, president Global Institute for the Study of Natural Resources, Amsterdam; former president Netherlands Science Policy Council, a founder of the Club of Rome
 * Larry E. Craig, Senator (R-Idaho)
 * Robert W. Crandall, The Brookings Institute
 * Bernard Davis, Harvard University School of Medicine
 * Gregg Easterbrook, Newsweek
 * Michael Fumento, Investor's Business Daily, author "Science under Siege"
 * Tor Ragnar Gerholm, University of Stockholm; member Swedish National Academy of Science; member Nobel Prize selection committee
 * Michael Gough, Office of Technology Assessment
 * John D. Graham, director Risk Analysis Project, Harvard University School of Public Health
 * Robert Hahn, American Enterprise Institute
 * Susan K. Harlander, chief of research and development, Land O'lakes
 * Christopher Hill, RAND Corporation, formerly with the National Research Council
 * Peter Huber, author "Galileo's Revenge: Junk Science in the Courtroom"
 * Suzanne Huttner, UCLA, director Biotechnology Project of the University of California System
 * Robert Jastrow, Wilson Observatory, president George C. Marshall Institute
 * Ray Kopp, Resources for the Future
 * Henry R. Linden, director Energy and Power Center, Illinois Institute of Technology
 * Richard S. Lindzen, MIT, member of the National Acadamy of Science
 * John Maddox, editor Nature
 * Henry Miller, chief science advisor to the director, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
 * James C. Miller III, president Citizens for a Sound Economy; former chairman FTC, former director Office of Management and Budget
 * John H. Moore, director International Institute, George Mason University
 * Boyce Rensberger, Washington Post
 * Ellis Rubinstein, Science
 * Michel Salomon, International Center for a Scientific Ecology, organizer of Heidelberg Appeal
 * Keith Schneider, New York Times
 * S. Fred Singer, president SEPP
 * Fred L. Smith, president Competitive Enterprise Institute
 * Robert D. Tollison, director Center for the Study of Public Choice at George Mason University
 * W. Kip Viscusi, Duke University, editor of Risk Assessment

This conference was only 2 weeks after the Michel Salomon's International Center for a Scientific Ecology (ICSE) conference in Paris which were S. Fred Singer and Michel Salomon were participants. Philip Morris (PM) wanted to indirectly sponsor an ICSE seminar in May 1993 in Washington DC and at least one employee of PM did attend it. 

S. Fred Singer was in 1994 the Senior Reviewer of a junk science report of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI) called Science, Economics, and Environmental Policy: A Critical Examination. AdTI was funded by Philip Morris and the Tobacco Institute. (see also AdTI-Funding)

"In January 1995, the Science & Environmental Policy Project moved to Fairfax, joining Atlas, the Institute for Humane Studies, The Locke Institute, and the Center for Market Processes at "4084 University Drive" near George Mason University. Atlas provided a grant to IPPS to facilitate the move and help fund the organization during its first year in Fairfax." 

SEPP and Helmut Metzner's European Academy for Environmental Affairs held in November 1995 a conference in Leipzig after which the Leipzig Declaration on Global Climate Change was announced. This is a petition of some "scientists concerned with atmospheric and climate problems" who deny that human greenhouse gas emissions are causing global climate change. 

In 1997 a second conference was held in Bonn.

Personnel
Board of Directors
 * S. Fred Singer, (1924- ) President
 * Frederick Seitz,(1911-2008) Chairman
 * Charles Gelman, (1931- )
 * David L. Hill (1919- ) (officially replaced in 2000 by Mark M. Brandsdorfer altough the 990 form for 1998 already mentioned Mark Brandsdorfer instead of Mr. Hill)


 * Donna Bethell, multi-year Sandia National Laboratories director, is an SEPP board member according to the Washington Post as of August 2011.

Board of Science Advisors
 * Bruce N. Ames (1928- )
 * C.J.F. Böttcher (1915- )
 * Tor Ragnar Gerholm (1925-2007)
 * Michael J. Higatsberger (1924-2004)
 * Henry R. Linden (1922- )
 * Sir William Mitchell (1925-2002)
 * William A. Nierenberg (1919-2000)
 * Michel Salomon (1927- ) Salomon wrote the infamous Heidelberg Appeal and ran the asbestos & tobacco-sponsored conference in Germany which gave the document a smattering of legitimacy.  He and Singer were also responsible for the International Center for a Scientific Ecology (ICSE) in Paris which promoted the 'Appeal' at the Rio Earth Summit.
 * Chauncey Starr (1912-2007)

Research Associates
 * Candace C. Crandall (wife of S. Fred Singer and in 1993 Executive Vice President of SEPP)

Others
 * Martin A. Apple, former member of SEPP's Board of Science Advisors, President of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents
 * Gerhard Stöhrer wrote in 1993 for SEPP "Toxic Policy at Dead End: The Case of Arsenic" and was in 1994 Director of the Chemical Risk Program at SEPP (see "Science, economics, and environmental policy: a critical examination")
 * Aaron Wildavsky (1930-1993) founding director of SEPP

Finances
SEPP's 2003 IRS Form 990 (2003) showed no one receiving a salary and the total expenses were $56,029 with a total revenue of $160,249 and net assets $714,531.

Funding
"... S. Fred Singer, acknowledged during a 1994 appearance on the television program Nightline that he had received funding from Exxon, Shell, Unocal and ARCO. He did not deny receiving funding on a number of occasions from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon." 

In 2000 SEPP wrote on their web site:
 * "SEPP does not solicit financial support from either industry or governmental sources. Income is derived mainly from charitable foundations and private individuals. Some income is derived also from SEPP conference fees and the sale of books and reports to the public. As a non-profit educational and research 501(c) 3 organization, accepting tax-deductible contributions, SEPP is required to file an annual report with the IRS. SEPP operates on a modest budget; its officers and associated scientists do not receive salaries but contribute their services on a pro bono basis." (emphasis added)

ExxonMobil donated $10,000 to SEPP both in 1998 and 2000.

Other SourceWatch resources

 * SEPP and the Statement by Atmospheric Scientists on Greenhouse Warming

Contact information
Science and Environmental Policy Project 2101 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1003 Arlington, Virginia 22201 Web: http://www.sepp.org/