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Big Oil tells Congress they won’t stop funding lies

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Big Oil tells Congress they won’t stop funding lies

Drilled about their climate deception and delay, the Slippery Six doubled down.

ExxonKnews
Oct 29, 2021
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Big Oil tells Congress they won’t stop funding lies

www.exxonknews.org

Emily Sanders is the Center for Climate Integrity’s editorial lead. Catch up with her on Twitter here.


“For far too long, Big Oil has escaped accountability for its central role in bringing our planet to the brink of climate catastrophe,” said House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney in her opening statement at Thursday’s long-awaited Congressional hearing on climate disinformation. “That ends today.” 

For the first time, the CEOs of oil giants Exxon, Shell, Chevron, BP America, and major trade associations, the American Petroleum Institute and the Chamber of Commerce — whom we’ve dubbed the #SlipperySix — had to testify under oath (albeit virtually) and face questions about their historic and ongoing deception campaigns to stop climate action. 

But instead of telling the truth, the executives dodged those questions, denied and defended their companies’ legacies of climate disinformation, and doubled down on their deception. Here were some highlights from the marathon 7-hour hearing. 

The Slippery Six had a chance to fess up. They dug in their heels.

Rep. Ro Khanna, chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment, gave witnesses a choice: “You can either come clean, admit your past misrepresentations and ongoing inconsistencies, and stop supporting climate disinformation. Or you can sit here in front of the American public and lie under oath.”

Twitter avatar for @RepRoKhanna
Rep. Ro Khanna @RepRoKhanna
Today the CEOs of the world’s largest oil companies have a choice –– they can either come clean or they can sit here in front of the American public and lie under oath. My opening remarks.
3:39 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2021
103Likes39Retweets

The CEOs chose to… well, sit there in front of the American public and lie under oath.

“Any suggestion that Chevron is engaged in an effort to spread disinformation and mislead the public on these complex issues is simply wrong,” said Chevron CEO Mike Wirth. 

When Ranking Member James Comer asked the oil executives whether they had “ever approved a disinformation campaign,” each said no.

As the hearing continued, so did the companies’ flat-out lies:

Twitter avatar for @cleancreatives
Clean Creatives @cleancreatives
FACT CHECK: Exxon's CEO just said the International Energy Agency says the world will continue relying on fossil fuels. That is false. Earlier this year, the IEA said: "There is no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply in our net zero pathway."
3:12 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2021
245Likes77Retweets

At one point, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods even defended his predecessor Lee Raymond’s sowing of doubt and uncertainty about climate science, claiming that “As science has evolved and developed, our understanding has evolved and developed.” That’s false, as readers of EXXONKNEWS well know: the company’s own scientists had some of the earliest knowledge about the definitive link between the burning of fossil fuels and climate change, but actively hid that knowledge from the public and promoted the idea of scientific uncertainty about the coming crisis.

Ironically enough, when Rep. Jamie Raskin took the opportunity to inform the CEOs that fraud and lies are not, in fact, protected under the First Amendment (an argument the industry has made to defend its actions in court), Mr. Woods responded: “I don’t believe companies should lie… we don’t do that.” 😶

Twitter avatar for @climatecosts
Center for Climate Integrity @climatecosts
Darren Woods of @exxonmobil "doesn't believe a company should lie." Maybe... try and work on that yourselves? In a hearing about disinformation? #ExxonKnew #SlipperySix
6:02 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2021
20Likes7Retweets

Not a single CEO would pledge to stop spending money to oppose climate action.

When pressed by Chairs Maloney and Khanna to close the gap between their actions and rhetoric, the Slippery Six clammed up — perhaps the single most important moment of the day.

Twitter avatar for @Reuters
Reuters @Reuters
After repeatedly being asked by Representative Carolyn Maloney to ‘no longer spend any money either directly or indirectly to oppose efforts to reduce emissions and address climate change,’ Big Oil executives refused to take the pledge reut.rs/3pMHFKg
10:40 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2021
131Likes82Retweets

The oil company CEOs also refused to ask the American Petroleum Institute, of which they’re all members, to cease its lobbying and advertising against electric vehicles and a fee on methane emissions.

Twitter avatar for @bailoutwatchorg
BailoutWatch @bailoutwatchorg
"What I will commit to is continuing to be an active member of the API." -Gretchen Watkins, President of Shell Oil Company
Twitter avatar for @Public_Citizen
Public Citizen @Public_Citizen
This is how it's done. Ro Khanna asked Big Oil CEOs if they'll commit to leaving the American Petroleum Institute if it continues to lobby against electric vehicles. They all freeze up. https://t.co/ONoa0U1cYO
5:39 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2021

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez pointed out how the hearing coincides with the industry’s concerted attempts to cut climate provisions from President Biden’s Build Back Better proposal. Hard as they tried, the industry representatives couldn’t seem to distract from that fact:

Twitter avatar for @Acyn
Acyn @Acyn
AOC: Have you participated in any calls with members of Congress throughout this process of reconciliation and infrastructure? ExxonMobil CEO: I have
7:03 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2021
13,334Likes2,264Retweets

Big Oil’s defenders rushed to the CEOs’ aid.

Other members of Congress, several of whom receive large campaign contributions from the oil industry, made every attempt to distract from the purpose of the hearing: romanticizing fossil fuel use, blaming China on repeat, using workers as props, and mischaracterizing the hearing as an attempt to ban fossil fuels, rather than hold the industry accountable for its actions.

Twitter avatar for @YEARSofLIVING
The YEARS Project @YEARSofLIVING
This would be funny if it wasn't so gross. Rep. Pat Fallon claimed that fossil fuels "prolong lifespans" during the #SlipperySix hearing. Do the 8 million disproportionately Black, Brown & Indigenous ppl that die prematurely from fossil fuel pollution every year just not count?
7:29 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2021
6Likes3Retweets

Several members tripped over themselves to apologize to the CEOs, who they claim are victims of “intimidation” by Congress... rather than heads of enormously wealthy and powerful corporations asked to answer to the taxpayers who subsidize their industry. Why not?

Twitter avatar for @blkahn
Brian Kahn @blkahn
A few choice quotes from today's Big Oil hearing for your consideration gizmodo.com/republicans-sl…
Image
9:58 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2021
68Likes24Retweets

But in the end, they had to face the music.

On the other side of the coin, representatives called out the industry’s modern-day greenwashing tactics, including empty net zero commitments and the promotion of expensive, largely untested technologies as alternatives to transitioning off of fossil fuels.

Twitter avatar for @jamieclimate
Jamie Henn @jamieclimate
The idea that Big Oil is prioritizing investments in renewables is perhaps their biggest lie — and one we’re going to hear over and over at this hearing. Here’s what their capital expenditures looked like in 2019. #SlipperySix
Image
3:15 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2021
1,332Likes694Retweets

“Exxon, for example, is promoting a proposed carbon capture and storage hub in Texas designed to capture emissions from industrial facilities and power plants,” said Rep. Mondaire Jones. “A way, at least according to Exxon’s own ads and marketing materials, to have the best of both worlds — continue to burn fossil fuels with reckless abandon, but pay none of the climate price.”

Rep. Katie Porter was not about to let the BS slide — and she brought M&Ms to help illustrate.

Twitter avatar for @thehill
The Hill @thehill
.@RepKatiePorter: “This is greenwashing. Shell is trying to fool people into thinking that it’s addressing the climate crisis, but what it’s actually doing is to continue to put money into fossil fuels.”
8:03 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2021
98Likes41Retweets

In some of the day’s most powerful moments, Rep. Cori Bush spoke from personal experience, calling out the racist legacy of fossil fuel operations — and the disastrous consequences of the industry’s lies for people of color.

Twitter avatar for @RepCori
Congresswoman Cori Bush @RepCori
For decades, Big Oil has been investing billions in covering up their role in the climate crisis. At our @OversightDems hearing today, I made sure fossil fuel CEOs know: We're not going to let them get away with it any longer.
9:32 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2021
502Likes159Retweets

The hearing ended with a bang.

In a final twist, Rep. Maloney revealed that she plans to subpoena the companies for internal documents they failed to produce as part of the Committee’s ongoing investigation into climate disinformation. That’s no small potatoes:

Twitter avatar for @amywestervelt
Amy Westervelt @amywestervelt
This is historic. A LOT of politicians have tried to go after the oil industry but none have had the grit to use subpoena powers on them @RepMaloney making a bold move here, says she has to do everything she can to protect the future
8:57 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2021
81Likes18Retweets

The Slippery Six made apparent yesterday that nothing — not even testimony under oath — will get them to take this crisis seriously. They proved, once and for all, that they will continue lying to the public as long as it suits them. As this investigation continues, we can only hope that real accountability — in the courts and in Congress — will be the way forward; clearly, there is no other.


For your consideration: EXXONKNEWS cat Tumbleweed knows how to spot Big Oil’s greenwashing. Do you?

Twitter avatar for @emdashsanders
Emily Sanders @emdashsanders
Tumbleweed does not approve of API CEO Mike Sommers’ responses #SlipperySix #tumbleweed
6:20 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2021
52Likes10Retweets
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Big Oil tells Congress they won’t stop funding lies

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