October 31, 1977 Exxon memo from Henry Shaw to John W. Harrison about a meeting Shaw recently attended (October 15, 1977) in Atlanta. The meeting was part of the Department of Energy’s Environmental Advisory Committee addressing carbon dioxide questions. Dr. Alvin Weinberg of the Institute of Energy Analysis chaired the committee. The October 15 meeting that Shaw attended discussed a recent National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report that recommended a worldwide effort to study carbon dioxide and the world’s climate because there are “profound uncertainties.” The NAS report also concluded that the “climatic effects of carbon dioxide release may be the primary limiting factor on energy production from fossil fuels over the next few centuries.”

Shaw also notes that Dr. Thomas Malone of the Holcomb Researching Institute met with Dr. B. J.  Mason of the British Meteorological Service. According to Shaw, Dr. Mason was not convinced CO2 accumulation is a significant problem but that it is the most important man-made weather problem to contend with.

Dr. Ruth Patrick of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences committed to a paper for the EPA Advisory Committee to address “the problems the study group foresees in climate as a result of fossil fuel combustion.”