NEW YORK - The State University of New York at Buffalo announced Monday that it was closing its newly formed Shale Resources and Society Institute, which was devoted to the study of hydraulic fracturing, citing "a cloud of uncertainty over its work."
The institute's first study, released in May, drew sharp criticism for being biased in favor of the oil and gas industry.
In a letter addressed to the "university community," President Satish K. Tripathi said he was closing the institute after an internal assessment that determined that it lacked "sufficient" faculty presence, that it was not consistent enough in disclosing its financial interests and that the credibility of its research was compromised because of questions over its financing.
Buffalo's decision is the most extreme response to date over criticism of academic bias in research related to the controversial natural gas drilling process commonly known as hydrofracking, or fracking. The University of Texas at Austin is conducting a similar review of a university fracking study released this year. One of the professors who fostered the study did not disclose that he was on the board of a gasoline company.
The controversies over fracking research tap into concerns in academia about the growing influence of corporate money in research especially at a time when government grants are declining.
The University at Buffalo, a major research center with the most students in the State University of New York system, came under pressure from professors, students and some SUNY trustees to close its shale institute, with a petition with more than 10,500 signatures.
The Buffalo study, issued May 15, said that state regulation in Pennsylvania had made drilling there far safer and that New York's pending rules were even more likely to ensure safety if drilling began in the state.
But a local government watchdog group, the Public Accountability Initiative, raised questions about the study's data and conclusions as well as the lack of full disclosure about its lead authors, who have also conducted other research directly for the industry.
The third author, the shale institute's co-director, John P. Martin, did planning and public relations work for the industry through JPMartin Energy Strategy in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.