What's old is new once again. I'd actually written most of this in February, when Heartland was in the news. But between one thing and another, hadn't posted it. Now that they're in the news again, it seems once again to be apt. As usual, my interest is on the science. Since a number of Heartland supporters are saying things in the vein of Heartland made a misstep in acting as they did, because it takes away from their message on the science. The supporters think Heartland is doing well on the science.
Now that I've looked in to what Heartland Institute has had to say on sea ice, I can say with confidence that they are not doing well on the science. They don't know (or lie about) the difference between ice area and ice extent, don't know how much area of ice there is, don't know where it forms, make up numbers even if you ignore the difference between area and extent, lie about what authors say in their scientific papers, treat 2 years as plenty for establishing a climate trend if it is in one direction, but ignore the 30 year trends when it isn't, don't know the difference between sea ice and ice shelves, don't understand how sea level changes, and others I'll let you classify yourself.
The gory details, examples being from their web site, are below the fold. A different point is, I don't expect everyone to be expert on sea ice, or even pay attention to it. If Heartland had ignored sea ice, that's fine (at least it is if they're not saying things which require understanding sea ice). But they chose to write about it. And the people whose articles I'm quoting are Jay Lehr, their science director, and James M. Taylor, a senior fellow for the Heartland Institute focusing on environmental issues. In other words, major players in deciding what Heartland says about science, not someone who might once have said something stupid about sea ice while passing through the office.
Having done my homework, I'm comfortable in saying that Jay Lehr and James M. Taylor are unreliable sources on the science, and Heartland Institute is as well. See below for my homework example.