Fracking research: playing with fire?

There's some great stuff here... rather buried (like the shale gas) deep down in the article though... "... the principal investigator for the Energy Institute report, Charles Groat, did not disclose in the report that he was a board member of Plains Exploration and Production (PXP), an oil and gas company that invested in fracking. Groat had earned $173,273 (£112,000) from the University of Texas in 2011, while receiving $413,900 from PXP the same year. If that were not a sufficient basis for a serious case of conflict of interest, one should also note that the Energy Institute itself receives substantial industry funding." and: "..As the Public Accountability Initiative points out: “Moniz’s compensation from ICF since 2011 is valued at over $300,000. The MIT study also failed to disclose that a study co-chair, Anthony Meggs, had joined gas company Talisman Energy” or that “study group member John Deutch has served on the board of the LNG company Cheniere Energy since 2006 and owns $1.4 million in Cheniere stock”." I think this kind of cozy government/ academia relationship is absolutely central to today's energy science and national policies. It's not about tenure - its much more serious than that. The universities are fundementally and irretrievably corrupted. Only good thing is that the Higher at least is prepared to talk about it! ps Cary Nelson might be interested to see similar issues here, that I raised some time ago... http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/412726.article