NU Online News Service, May 8, 2:02 p.m.EDT

Prompted by a lobbying group which supports efforts to reduceglobal warming, three insurance companies and the Association ofBermuda Insurers and Reinsurers have publicly renounced theirsupport for the Heartland Institute, a libertarian researchgroup.

The group Forecast the Facts sought to persuade large companiesto drop support for Heartland after Heartland started an adcampaign that compares those who believe in global warming toUnabomber Ted Kaczynski.

Similar billboards featuring Charles Manson and Osama Bin Ladenwere planned, but Heartland suspended the ad campaign afterwidespread condemnation, including strong criticism from itssupporters.

Besides ABIR, insurers dropping support for Heartland includeState Farm, XL Group, and Allied World Assurance.

ABIR represents 22 Bermuda-based insurers and reinsurers,

Forecast the Facts says it is an organization “dedicated toensuring that Americans are accurately informed about climatechange.”

The group says it has mobilized more than 20,000 people to callon corporations to pull support from Heartland. GM was the first torespond, ending its 20-year relationship with Heartland on March28. GM was followed by AT&T, ABIR, beverage maker Diageo, andnow State Farm and other insurers.

ABIR withdrew in a letter to Heartland May 4.

In the letter, ABIR President Bradley Kading says, “We write todisavow any future relationship with your organization. Recentrevelations of the Heartland Institute's radical position onclimate change as portrayed on the new billboard featuring TedKaczynski made our association with other parts of yourorganization untenable.”

State Farm also cited Heartland's recent billboard campaign asits reason for dropping out, according to Forecast the Factsofficials.

ABIR has enlisted Heartland in its efforts to expandmarket-based solutions to catastrophe issues, including providing arole for reinsurers in funding the National Flood InsuranceProgram.

On its website, Heartland claims that “the most prominentadvocates of global warming aren't scientists. They are murderers,tyrants, and madmen” who are “willing to break the law and therules of ethics to shut down scientific debate and implement theirleft-wing agendas.”

In 2010, ABIR provided $50,000 in funding to the think tank,followed by $75,000 in 2011, according to Heartland's leaked 2012fundraising plan.

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company contributed$120,000 to Heartland between 2010-2011, and ABIR-member XL Groupgave $35,000 in 2011.

Editor's Note: This version removes projected 2012 donorsfrom the last paragraph that appears in a previous version of thestory, since those entities were included in Heartland's forecast,but did not officially pledge funds for the year.