Update and correction: In a , UT announced that 鈥婦r. Raymond Orbach had 鈥渞esigned.鈥� It did not say, however, that Orbach will be staying at UT as a tenured professor. Orbach has only resigned as head of the Energy Institute, effective Dec. 31. This post has since been corrected.
Original post: One University of Texas professor has retired and another has stepped down from a leadership role after a review found a conflict of interest in a controversial report on hydraulic fracturing, or 鈥渇racking.鈥�
As KUT News , the report from the , 鈥淪eparating Fact From Fiction in Shale Gas Development,鈥� stated that fracking, when executed properly, doesn鈥檛 contaminate groundwater. But StateImpact Texas reported that the study's leader to the drilling industry, including a seat on the board of a drilling company.
Today, StateImpact Texas reports that , and Dr. Raymond Orbach has resigned from the energy institute.
The departures were announced as an independent review of the report was released which blasted the Energy Institute鈥檚 work:
鈥淭he review finds no 鈥榠ntentional misrepresentation鈥� by Groat, and even believes that, at the time, he was likely not violating established conflict of interest policies at the University. But his failure to disclose聽constitutes聽鈥榲ery poor judgement,鈥� the review says, and harmed the credibility of the report.鈥�
You can read .
