Michael Bastasch
Michael Bastasch
Credentials
- B.A., Political Science, University of Portland (2011).[1](javascript:void(0))
Background
Michael Bastasch is a reporter for the conservative news site The Daily Caller where he focuses on energy and environmental issues. Bastasch has published over 3,000 articles on The Daily Caller and has regularly provided a platform for climate change skeptics.[2](javascript:void(0))
According to Bastasch’s LinkedIn profile, he has a long history working with organizations tied to Koch Industries. He went through the Koch Internship Program through the Charles Koch Institute in 2012, and around the same time also interned on government relations at the Koch-funded Heritage Foundation. He was also a prior Research Associate at the Cascade Policy Institute, which the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) notes has close ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where Bastasch also interned in 2010. He also worked as a Koch Summer Fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University.[3](javascript:void(0)) [4](javascript:void(0))
Writing at CMD, Lisa Graves highlight’s Bastasch’s internship, saying “Bastasch is one of hundreds of interns who have been funded by Charles’s newest enterprise to help turn their ideological affinity with Koch ‘into careers’.”[5](javascript:void(0))
Daily Caller Koch Connections
According to data from Greenpeace, The Daily Caller News Foundation (the nonprofit arm of the Daily Caller) has received at least $825,814 in combined funding from Koch-controlled foundations. As reported at Daily KOS, the Daily Caller was one of the main beneficiaries of climate change denial funding through Koch foundations, and “also seems to be the final destination of sorts for the conservative media pipeline.”[6](javascript:void(0))
DeSmog reported that, in 2015, The Daily Caller News Foundation had accepted $106,248 in two donations from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. The group had also accepted $60,000 from the secretive DonorsTrust in that year.[7](javascript:void(0))
Climate science denier and Republican supporter Foster Freiss, who helped found the Daily Caller, also helped bankroll the organization with a $3 million donation before it was launched in January 2010.[8](javascript:void(0))
Media Matters reported that Freiss was also a major Koch donor and regular attendee of the Koch’s annual summits. The Daily Caller News Foundation was also formerly listed as a “Partner Organization” of the Charles Koch Institute.[9](javascript:void(0)) [10](javascript:void(0))
Stance on Climate Change
March 5, 2017
Writing in The Daily Caller on the 97% consensus among climate change scientists on man-made global warming, after quoting climate change deniers Richard Lindzen, Bastasch claims that “consensus is not proof.” He adds, “Experts can all agree, but that doesn’t mean they are right.”[11](javascript:void(0))
“That being said, most climate scientists likely do agree humans are contributing to warming in some way […] That still leaves us with a lot of possibilities. Is 51 percent of global warming attributable to humans or is 99 percent? Scientists can guess, but no one knows for sure.”[12](javascript:void(0))
He concludes with a survey from the Koch-funded George Mason University (GMU) that found one/third of AMS members at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) believe “mostly natural or only about half-caused by humans.”[13](javascript:void(0))
He also defers to the “climate scientists” at the libertarian (and also heavily-Koch-funded) Cato Institute, which he claims have found that “climate models incorrectly predicted global temperature rise for six decades.”[14](javascript:void(0))
Global Warming “Pause”
Bastasch has repeatedly promoted the debunked theory of a “global warming pause” or “hiatus.” Sample articles below:[15](javascript:void(0))
- “NOAA Is Hiring Outside Experts To Review ‘Pause-Busting’ Global Warming Study,” The Daily Caller, Feb 13, 2017
- “NOAA Expedited ‘Pause’-Busting Global Warming Study, Says Former Employee,” The Daily Caller, Feb 9, 2017
- “REPORT: Satellites Show The Global Warming ‘Pause’ Is Back,” The Daily Caller, Nov 22, 2016
- “Scientists Blame Volcano For the ‘Pause’ In Sea Level Rise,” The Daily Caller, Aug 11, 2016
- “UN Claims There’s An ‘Alarming Rate’ Of Global Warming By Ignoring The 15-Year ‘Hiatus’ And El Niño,” The Daily Caller, Mar 21, 2016
- “Satellites Show 21-Year ‘Hiatus’ In Global Warming Broken By Strong El Niño,” The Daily Caller, Mar 2, 2016
- “Scientists Debunk Study Eliminating Global Warming ‘Hiatus’,” The Daily Caller, Feb 25, 2016
- “Paper: Scientists Still Can’t Explain The ‘Grand Hiatus’ In Global Warming,” The Daily Caller, Dec 30, 2015
- “‘There Is No Hiatus’: IPCC Chief Denies The Satellite Records,” The Daily Caller, Dec 9, 2015
- “NOAA’s ‘Hiatus’-Busting Study ‘Rushed’, Ignored ‘Scientific Processes’,” The Daily Caller, Nov 19, 2015
- “Scientific ‘Consensus’ Can’t Agree On The Existence Of The Global Warming Hiatus,” The Daily Caller, Sep 18, 2015
- “Study Resurrects The Global Warming ‘Hiatus’,” The Daily Caller, Jul 9, 2015
- “BREAKING: NOAA Fiddles With Climate Data To Erase The 15-Year Global Warming ‘Hiatus’,” The Daily Caller, Jun 4, 2015
- “Global Warming ‘Pause’ Extends Nearly 18 And A Half Years,” The Daily Caller, Apr 24, 2015
- “Excuse #64 For The ‘Pause’ In Global Warming: It’s Pure Luck,” The Daily Caller, Jan 30, 2015
- “Study: Global Warming ‘Pause’ Caused By Small Volcanic Eruptions,” The Daily Caller, Jan 12, 2015
- “EPA Chief: Pause In Global Warming ‘Doesn’t Represent Climate’,” The Daily Caller, Nov 17, 2014
- “The DCNF’s Definitive Guide To Understanding The Pause In Global Warming,” The Daily Caller, Oct 31, 2014
- “IPCC Climate Scientist: Global Warming ‘Pause’ Could Last 30 Years,” The Daily Caller, Oct 27, 2014
- “There Are Now 52 Explanations For The Pause In Global Warming,” The Daily Caller, Sep 12, 2014
- “As The Global Warming ‘Pause’ Continues Scientists Make More Dire Predictions,” The Daily Caller, Aug 27, 2014
- “Report: Global Warming ‘Pause’ Could Last Another 10 Years,” The Daily Caller, Aug 22, 2014
- “Excuse #9: NASA scientist says pause in global warming just a ‘coincidence’,” The Daily Caller, Feb 28, 2014
- “Top 8 explanations for why global warming is on ‘pause’,” The Daily Caller, Feb 13, 2014
- “NASA data shows that the ‘pause’ in global warming continues,” The Daily Caller, Jan 22, 2014
Key Quotes
January 20, 2017
On The Daily Caller, Bastasch writes that regulations under the Obama administration had “zero projected impact” on global warming:[16](javascript:void(0))
“Obama imposed $457 billion worth of climate regulations to avert an immeasurable amount of warming.
“Well, okay, that’s not completely right — it’s actually worse.
“That figure assumes climate models accurately project CO2-induced warming, but there’s a lot of evidence building up that most climate models have over-predicted warming for the last six decades. If the models are running hot, that actually means Obama-era regulations will avert even less warming than three-hundredths of a degree.
“In that case, they could literally have zero projected impact on future warming.”[17](javascript:void(0))
January 10, 2017
Citing research by climate change contrarian Roger Pielke Jr., Bastasch criticizes Bill Nye for tweeting that man-made global warming was increasing floods in Northern California:[18](javascript:void(0))
“On a global scale, there’s little to no evidence flooding events have been on the rise,” Bastasch wrote.[19](javascript:void(0))
May, 2014
Writing at The Daily Caller, Bastasch declared:
“The Obama administration and environmentalists have tried to make it seem like there are virtually no dissenting voices among scientists that mankind is causing the Earth to warm rapidly and towards a catastrophic end. But not all scientists are in lock-step with the White House on climate science.”[20](javascript:void(0))
Key Deeds
October 29, 2018
Bastasch, writing at The Daily Caller, cited a Twitter post by Richard Tol as evidence that “Spending hundreds of millions of dollars on climate conferences has done nothing to cut emissions.”[21](javascript:void(0))
Tol had posted a graph on Twitter designed to illustrate rising costs of the United Nation’s annual Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC). Rather than using concrete values, “Tol multiplied the number of meetings by the length of each meeting, the number of participants and travels costs and salaries for government workers,” Bastasch wrote.[22](javascript:void(0))
“Number of meetings is known,” Tol said via email. “Length of meetings is approximately known – two weeks for the main negotiations, one week for the committees, two days for the rest.”[23](javascript:void(0))
November 21, 2017
In a Daily Caller story titled “The Real Story Behind The Heartland Institute’s Role In The Trump Admin,” Bastasch interviewed Joe Bast of the Heartland Institute followingThe Washington Post’s reporting on Heartland’s closed-door meeting in Houston, Texas. Bastasch said that Jim Lakely, Heartland’s communication director, had claimed the article was an effort to delegitimize Heartland and its work.[24](javascript:void(0)) [25](javascript:void(0))
“The tone of it is that the climate realist right isn’t happy with Trump’s progress,” Lakely told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”[26](javascript:void(0))
Bast had similar comments, saying “the left demonizes us” while pointing to the publishing of Heartland’s leaked 2012 budget documents as an example. According to Bast, Heartland also never specifically told the EPA who to pick as part of a climate “Red Team.”[27](javascript:void(0))
“I have never met Scott Pruitt,” Bast said. “We’ve always tried to remain arm’s length from politics. It’s never been a priority for us to engage in politics.”[28](javascript:void(0))
“The real way we measure our impact is through public opinion surveys,” Bast said, referring to Heartland’s surveys on public global warming attitudes.[29](javascript:void(0))
However, Bast did admit to a relationship with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, telling Bastasch that he talked frequently with Bannon regarding orders to combat climate policies, like urging Trump to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.[30](javascript:void(0))
“Steve was an important channel for us to the White House,” Bast said. “[..] It’s changed with Steve Bannon leaving.”[31](javascript:void(0))
Bast also said that Heartland’s new president, Tim Huelskamp, “has been invaluable to finding new allies in the administration,” Bastasch wrote.[32](javascript:void(0))
August 22, 2017
Bastasch promoted a study by Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) senior fellows John Abbot and Jennifer Marohasy in an article at The Daily Caller. The study, titled “The application of machine learning for evaluating anthropogenic versus natural climate change,” was published in the soon-to-be discontinued journal*GeoResJ.* [33](javascript:void(0)) [34](javascript:void(0))
“The world would have warmed throughout the 20th Century even without carbon dioxide emissions from the industrial revolution, according to a new study,” Bastasch wrote.
According to Marohasy, “This suggests that even if there had been no industrial revolution and burning of fossil fuels, there would have still been some warming through the twentieth century – to at least 1980.”[35](javascript:void(0))
The study was quickly picked up by other conservative news sources and blogs including Breitbart, Tallboke, and Watts Up With That among others. Marohasy herself wrote on it at The Spectator and at her personal blog.[36](javascript:void(0)) [37](javascript:void(0)) [38](javascript:void(0)) [39](javascript:void(0)) [40](javascript:void(0)) [41](javascript:void(0))
Graham Readfearn*,* reporting for The Guardian, contacted five scientists to review the paper. “They variously summarised the research as ‘junk science’ and seriously flawed,” Readfearn said. He noted that one of the study’s co-authors, John Abbot, “claimed an academic affiliation to James Cook University that, according to that university, had expired more than six months before the research was submitted to the journal.”[42](javascript:void(0))

