not exactly a smoking gun. but this general idea is not new, and it's probably mostly right.
http://uk.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11201273.htm

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/10/11/budg-o11.html
http://canadiandimension.com/articles/5580/
http://www.nature.com/news/diamond-drizzle-forecast-for-saturn-and-jupiter-1.13925?WT.mc_id=FBK_NatureNews
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/10/11/worse_than_nixon_committee_to_protect
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/10/10/desert_fury_egypt_sinai
https://www.cnas.org/files/documents/publications/CNAS_GreatUnwind_policybrief_RosenbergKahl.pdf
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/10/truth-in-the-age-of-niallism/280507/

what is the synthetic oil made from?
http://phys.org/news/2013-10-arizona-solar-hours-sun.html

i applaud the move towards empiricism, but i think the question they need to be asking is about whether the idea still makes sense in a globalized economy focused on cheap labour.
http://mitne.ws/GTmJb4

http://phys.org/news/2013-10-device-self-biased-solar-hydrogen-microbial.html
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=beeing-there-the-search-for-pesticides-effect-on-declining-bee-colonies-moves-to-the-fields&WT.mc_id=SA_Facebook
http://www.physicstoday.org/daily_edition/politics_and_policy/a_muted_milestone_for_the_national_ignition_facility\