"Panelist Reviewing Fracturing Study Has His Own Industry Ties"

"A retired aerospace executive - appointed to review a study on hydraulic fracturing after it was disclosed the study's author has strong industry ties - has such ties himself."

"[Last] Monday, the University of Texas at Austin appointed Norman Augustine to chair a three-member panel charged by the university with independently reviewing a study that concluded hydraulic fracturing doesn't harm ground water.

But Augustine 'doesn't pass the smell test' because he served on the board of Houston-based ConocoPhillips or its predecessor company from 1989 to 2008, said Kevin Connor, a director of the Public Accountability Initiative, a watchdog group in Buffalo, N.Y. "

Vicki Vaughan reports for the Houston Chronicle August 16, 2012.