American Tradition Institute

The American Tradition Institute (ATI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Washington, DC and in Denver, CO. According to its mission statement, the ATI is "a public policy research and educational foundation ... founded in 2009 to help lead the national discussion about environmental issues, including air and water quality and regulation, responsible land use, natural resource management, energy development, property rights, and free-market principles of stewardship."

ATI "is part of a broader network of groups with close ties to energy interests that have long fought greenhouse gas regulation." The group has "connections with the Koch brothers, Art Pope and other conservative donors seeking to expand their political influence," reported the Institute for Southern Studies in October 2011.

In 2011, ATI sued the University of Virginia to get access to the emails of climatologist Michael Mann.

Background
ATI sprung from a 501(c)(4) group called the Western Tradition Partnership, which was formed in Colorado in 2008.

"The Western Tradition Partnership (WTP)...[was] a political advocacy group backed primarily by the energy industry. It was first registered as a Colorado nonprofit [501(c)(4)] in 2008 by Scott Shires, a Republican operative who pleaded guilty that same year to fraudulently obtaining federal grants to develop alternative fuels."

"In 2010 WTP changed its name to American Tradition Partnership (ATP), and announced that it had launched the American Tradition Institute, a 501(c)(3) think tank that would be "battling radical environmentalist junk science head on." The "junk science" ATP seems most concerned with is what the US National Academy of Sciences says should now be regarded as "settled facts" - that the Earth is warming and humans are the likely cause."

Subverting Wind Power
On May 8, 2012, the Guardian posted a confidential memo prepared by a fellow of the American Tradition Institute (ATI) that advises how to build a national movement of wind farm protesters. Among its main recommendations, the proposal calls for a national PR campaign aimed at causing "subversion in message of [wind] industry so that it effectively becomes so bad that no one wants to admit in public they are for it." It suggests setting up "dummy businesses" to buy anti-wind billboards, and creating a "counter-intelligence branch" to track the wind energy industry. It also calls for spending $750,000 to create an organisation with paid staff and tax-exempt status dedicated to building public opposition to state and federal government policies encouraging the wind energy industry.

The proposal was discussed at a meeting of self-styled 'wind warriors' from across the country in Washington DC in February 2012. Participants included members of conservative groups such as Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow and Tea Party Patriots.

The proposal was reviewed by John Droz Jr., a senior fellow at ATI, for discussion at the Washington meeting, which he also organised. ATI's executive director, Tom Tanton, told the Guardian that Droz had acted alone on the memo, although he remains a fellow at ATI. Droz is a longtime opponent of wind farms, arguing that the technology has not yet been proven and that wind technology should not receive government support. He claims 10,000 subscribers to his anti-wind-power email newsletter. In a telephone interview, Droz said the Washington strategy session was his own initiative, and that neither he nor any of the participants had been paid for attending the session.

2011 Colorado Lawsuit Over Renewable Energy Standard Mandate
On April 4, 2011, ATI, the American Tradition Partnership and plaintiff Rod Lueck sued the State of Colorado and several officials over the constitutionality of the state’s Renewable Energy Standard mandate. The RES requires the state’s major utilities (mainly Xcel Energy) to obtain 30 percent of their power generation from renewable sources by the year 2020.

The group also released a 2011 report with Beacon Hill Institute in favor of repealing Ohio's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard, arguing that renewable energy would drive up electricity costs and hurt the state economy. The repeal did not move forward.

2011 Michael Mann E-mails
In 2011 ATI issued a FOIA request to the University of Virginia for emails sent by climate scientist Michael Mann during his tenure at that university. On May 25, 2011, an agreement was reached in which UVA agreed to release 9000 documents to ATI within 90 days.

But on November 2, 2011, a Virginia county circuit judge issued a procedural ruling that was "a huge setback for ATI":
 * "The court allowed that there was reason for UVA to reopen the protective order before the court. The original protective order would have allowed ATI to review the emails themselves. That court order is now invalid. ATI will not see the exempt emails. ...Now, a neutral party will be able to see the emails, not ATI. The neutral party must be agreed upon by all parties...", Scott Mandia reported Michael Mann saying. ,

What had changed? University of Virginia court filings had argued that ATI publicity and actions of ATI principals David W. Schnare and Christopher Horner - who were both the attorneys and the petitioners in this case - had raised questions about whether with these dual roles they could be trusted to abide by the previous ruling's requirement to keep the content of the exempt emails private. [See Schnare's SourceWatch page for his response.]

In July 2012 the Guardian reported that ATI had begun seeking the release of scientists' communications with specific journalists - the first time the media was being drawn into FOIA requests concerning climate science. The list of news organizations includes the New York Times, the Associated Press, Frontline, and the Guardian.

2009 Colorado Campaign: Corporate Money and Disclosures

 * "In 2009, the group sued Longmont, CO over their Fair Campaign Practices Act. The city settled and agreed to drop disclosure requirements. In 2010, after the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, WTP/ATP successfully challenged the constitutionality of the Montana Corrupt Practices Act of 1912, which prohibited independent political expenditures by corporations."

2010 Montana Ruling

 * "During the 2010 elections, the Montana Commission of Political Practices found that the organization broke state campaign laws by failing to register as a political committee or report its donors and spending. The state suggested WTP/ATP was involved in corruption and money laundering. They found that it solicited unlimited contributions to support candidates and then passed them through a "sham organization," the Bozeman-based political action committee The Coalition for Energy and the Environment that ran attack ads against Democrats. WTP told corporations that it aimed to combat "radical environmentalists" and "beat them at their own game" and that their contributions would remain secret."

Funding and IRS status
American Tradition Institute is the dba name of the Western Tradition Institute 501(c)(3). Guidestar lists it as EIN #264239065, ruling date 07/2009.

According to ATI's 2010 IRS Form 990, its personnel are all volunteers; whether some are paid by ATI's sister 501(c)(4), Western Tradition Partnership, is unknown, as that group did not file a return with the IRS that year.

There are two versions of its 2010 IRS Form 990 online, an original return by Scott Shires available on Guidestar and an amended return by another preparer available at the Institute for Southern Studies. The original return shows 30 volunteers and 1 independent director where the amended return shows 3 volunteers and 3 independent directors (though only one is named), and there are also other differences.

The ATI website's About page says that "ATI accepts no government grants, and our financial backing has to date primarily derived from a broad and growing base of grassroots contributors." . In 2010, $140k of its $186k of funding reportedly came from Doug Lair (whose family sold Lair Petroleum to William Koch in 1989) and the Lair Family Foundation. (The remainder was $1k from memberships, $40k from the American Tradition Partnership, and $5k from Atlas Economic Research Foundation).

Board Members
As of June 2013:
 * Nick Spyros
 * Dennis Champion

Former board members include:
 * Dan Reed
 * John Reed

Staff
As of June 2013:
 * Christopher C. Horner, JD – Director of Litigation, Environmental Law Center
 * Dr. David W. Schnare– Director, Environmental Law Center
 * Tom Tanton - Director, Science & Technology Assessment
 * Craig Richardson - Executive Director

Former staff include:
 * Paul Chesser, Executive Director
 * Mark Newgent, Associate Research Fellow

Contact Details
Offices: 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue, #186 Washington, D.C. 20006

1601 Blake Street, Suit 310 Denver, CO 80202

E-mail: info AT atinstitute.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AmericanTraditionInstitute Twitter: http://twitter.com/ATIEnergyEnvrmt

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Western Tradition Partnership

External resources
American Tradition Institute website (http://www.atinstitute.org - not to be confused with the American Tradition Partnership website at http://www.americantradition.org)

External articles

 * Sue Sturgis, "SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: Who's behind the 'information attacks' on climate scientists?" Facing South, Oct. 31, 2011