UTA Study and Conflicts of Interest

Much has been written lately about the UT Austin Energy Institute Study on fracking that found no evidence of groundwater contamination (for example, an editorial in Nature; Andrew Revkin's Dot Earth New York Times Opinion Column; Scientific American; and StateImpact Texas). It turns out that the lead author, Charles 'Chip' Groat, associate director of the University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute, failed to disclose that he holds a significant number of shares in the Houston-based Plains Exploration & Production Company. This lack of full disclosure has tainted the study and adds more fuel to the science-politics rancor surrounding fracking.

You can find the Energy Institute's study here.