Plants Need CO2

Plants Need CO2 was a climate complacency front group 501(c)(3) that (with ad-buying sibling 501(c)(4) CO2 Is Green) popped up in 2009, with a mission "to educate the public on the positive effects of additional atmospheric CO2..." . One of its directors, Corbin Robertson of Quintana Minerals, "is said to own more coal through his various ventures than anyone outside of the U.S. government" - and was a Koch strategy group attendee.

Message: more CO2 good
According to the Plants Need CO2 website, "Earth and it's inhabitants need more, not less, CO2..." .

Science: more CO2 not good
Skeptical Science provides the evidence that "Negative impacts of global warming on agriculture, health & environment far outweigh any positives".

Visible personnel: Leighton Steward
The group's only named principal is its spokesman, H. Leighton Steward, described as "a geologist, environmentalist, author, and retired energy industry executive" who's interested in "helping to educate the general public and the politicians about the tremendous benefits of carbon dioxide (CO2) as it relates to the plant and animal kingdoms and their related ecosystems and habitats, and the general health of humanity".

Domain registration
The plantsneedco2.org domain was originally registered on May 26, 2009; as of its August 25 2009  update it showed H. Leighton Steward as the registrant, using a networksolutionsprivateregistration.com email address and the Network Solutions business address.

Earlier, registration information reportedly tied it to Quintana Minerals Corporation, which "provides oil and gas exploration services to the energy sector" and "offers crude oil and natural gas production services."

Directors and backgrounds
The Plants Need CO2 website does not name the group's directors, only spokesman H. Leighton Steward.

According to its corporate Certificate of Formation, the group has three directors: Steward, Wyatt Hogan and Corbin Robertson Jr.
 * H. Leighton Steward is a director at EOG Resources, an oil and gas company formerly known as Enron Oil and Gas Company, where he earned $617,151 in 2008.
 * Wyatt Hogan is Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of GP Natural Resource Partners LLC.
 * Corbin Robertson Jr. is "said to own more coal through his various ventures than anyone outside of the U.S. government"; he is the grandson and heir of Texas oilman Hugh Roy Cullen, and is president of Quintana Minerals, CEO and chairman of Natural Resource Partners LP, and chairman of Quintana Maritime Ltd.

Contact details
Website: http://plantsneedco2.org/ Phone: none provided Email address: info AT plantsneedco2.org

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Corbin Robertson
 * CO2 Is Green
 * Koch
 * Koch Industries
 * Koch Event 2010-06 Attendees
 * Front groups
 * Global warming
 * Global warming skeptics

External articles

 * Steven J. Mufson, "New Groups Revive the Debate Over Causes of Climate Change", Washington Post, September 25, 2009.