John Marion Tierney (born March 25, 1953) is an American journalist and a contributing editor to City Journal, the Manhattan Institute's quarterly publication.
[1] A self-described contrarian, Tierney is a critic of aspects of environmentalism, the "science establishment," and big government,[2] but he does support the goal of limiting overall emissions of carbon dioxide.
[13] Critics complained that, in the article, he quoted "not a single representative of the recycling industry", but did cite the head of "an environmental consulting business for hire to solid waste companies".
[12] Joseph J. Romm has written that Tierney is one of the "influential but misinformed skeptics" who have helped prevent the United States from taking action on climate change.
[14] Columbia Journalism Review complains Tierney "has a tendency to support his point of view using sources with a clear ideological or special interest agenda, without properly identifying them".
Among those who have accused him of errors of fact and misrepresentation are Erik M. Conway and Naomi Oreskes in their 2010 book Merchants of Doubt,[15] as well as journalist Merrill Goozner.