Brulle’s calculation has reverberated in an echo chamber across the popular and scholarly media since it was made available online in 2013. Many of these stories twisted Brulle’s finding into an even more extreme claim, exemplified in this Guardian headline: “Conservative groups spend $1bn a year to fight action on climate change.”
That claim was false twice over. Brulle’s study measured income, not spending. And the study made no effort to isolate the amount the conspirators spent to engage climate science issues. Most of the diverse groups regularly engaged other policy debates (welfare, telecom regulation, agricultural policy, tax rates, etc.), and some groups barely conducted any advocacy.
Here is a partial set of media outlets, books, or academic journals that, directly or indirectly, continue to reference Brulle’s claim.