An exposé reveals how industry interests heavily influenced a peer-reviewed study.
The Globe reports that one of the study’s coauthors, Mary Usovicz, a former director of business development at UMass Lowell, “had spent decades working in the gas industry.” A lobbyist for AIM, Robert Rio, was friendly with Usovicz, and met with her weekly and was allowed access to the study before it was published.
hand in drafting portions of the introduction as well as recommendations at the end of the study geared toward“It is our conclusion that the use of hydrogen in some applications which currently use fossil fuels will reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions and help contribute to meeting the Commonwealth’s 2050 net-zero carbon goals and if widely adopted, help reduce CO2 emissions globally,” a section almost entirely drafted by Rio read.
lead author, Christopher Niezrecki, a professor in the department of mechanical engineering, was aware of. In January 2021, records obtained by the Globe show, Usovicz emailed Niezrecki to inform him that a group of energy and pipeline companies, including National Grid, Eversource, and Enbridge, had kicked in more than $50,000 to fund the study.
“While UMass Lowell has no opinion on the use of green hydrogen in Massachusetts, it has extensive faculty expertise on the topics of advanced energy and sustainability and a long history of partnership with industry,” UMass Lowell spokesperson Jonathan Strunk told Earther in an email.
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