Greenwashing by oil and gas companies is the latest form of gaslighting by AGW Denialists, after several years with no really new lies since the Paris Accords of 2015. Republicans, along with the industry, have recently thrown coal under the electric bus, now that it is dying the death of thousands of cuts in almost every country. Their sophisticated and well-funded gaslighting campaign, Power Past Impossible, has 76 ads on YouTube. It seeks to convince us that cutting coal necessarily makes us more dependent on oil and gas, which we should be grateful for.
Check this out. This is one wailing saxomaphonist in a bopping group, if you shut your eyes and listen. But see how many lies you can spot if you turn the sound off and watch. It's too bad they didn't spring for different music for each ad, but repeated just a few of them over and over.
I'll give you this one for free.
The new natural gas and oil produces cleaner energy to power tomorrow.
There are 74 more of these ads, plus a one hour conference video.
Lies and Lying Liars
Power Past impossible
Member organizations are
- Energy Citizens
- American Petroleum Institute
- EnergyNation
- Oil&Gas Workforce
That’s what natural gas and oil help Americans do every day.
Feh.
Did you know that America is the world’s largest natural gas and oil producer, while at the same time leading the world in reducing emissions?
Yes, no thanks to you.
Can you see how the following egregious lie works? I have given you two clues.
More than 10.3 million Americans go to work each day at jobs supported by natural gas and oil. These include men and women who work directly for the industry and people who work indirectly for industry in its long, 50-state supply chain. It also includes induced jobs, which depend in some way on the spending of industry and its employees – everything from grocery stores to clothing retailers to pharmacies and more.
So why not count everybody who drives a car?
Now, we should take a moment to recognize leading gaslighter Amanda Ebersole, the COO of the American Petroleum Institute, who introduces some of her fellow travelers.
Warning: This one is an hour long, not like the others, which are all 30 second TV spots.
The Republican Party
I disposed of the Republican version of gaslighting on oil and gas in Renewable Friday: AOC and the Green New Deal.
Bob English, Republican Representative from South Carolina, Defeated in a primary in 2010 because he said that he believes in Climate Change.
Chris: Have things gotten better or worse, politically, on the Republican side of the aisle since 2010?
BE: Much better. Incredibly better. Headline: “Republicans are focused on pragmatic solutions to Climate Change.” The next day Greg Walden, Fred Upton and John Shimkus penned an op-ed [on the Conservative-leaning Real Clear Policy Web site] saying Climate Change is real, and we as Republican leaders are ready to do something about it.
This is the article in question, with its actual deliberately insulting title.
By Greg Walden, Fred Upton & John Shimkus
February 13, 2019
Climate change is real, and as Republican Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, we are focused on solutions.
We should promote carbon capture and utilization [boo], renewable hydropower [OK, but without much room to expand], and safe nuclear power [safe enough when you don’t leave idiots in charge, but hugely expensive, and incapable of rapid expansion], which is emissions-free. We should also look to remove barriers to energy storage and commercial batteries [OK. Jumping on the bandwagon after it is well started] to help make renewable sources more viable and our electricity grid more resilient. And we must encourage more research and business investments in new clean energy technologies. These are bipartisan solutions we must seize on to deliver real results for the American people.
Meanwhile, many Democrats are rallying around the recently introduced Green New Deal. This agenda calls for a 10-year plan to move U.S. power generation to 100 percent zero-emission energy sources. [False] But even though this proposal is being billed as a solution to climate change, it also includes numerous unrelated [false], prohibitively expensive [false] policy goals such as government-run health care and guaranteed employment.
This is not a genuine policy proposal. It has much the same value as Trump’s claims that he will introduce a much better healthcare plan than Obamacare, just as soon as he gets to kill the ACA.
Carbon capture, feh. In Indiana, Carbon Taxes You (Not) is my Diary about the Rockport Coal Gasification Boondoggle’s collapse in Indiana six years ago. Clean coal was a lie, and clean coal is dead.
This is the Rachel Maddow rule: Ignore what they say. Look at what they do.
That was in April. They tried it once and gave up, for obvious reasons.
Lies, Damned Lies, and Gaslighting
Now, we can't get into all of those 76 videos here. We cannot even list all of the lies they tell. But we can certainly hit the highlights and link to sources that debunk their claims.
Intermittency
Powering Renewable Energy
Traditional power plants, like coal or nuclear, aren’t designed to quickly ramp up and ramp down the power they generate. Natural gas plants, on the other hand, can do just that, making them a perfect partner for intermittent wind and solar power. Natural gas plants provide on-demand power that can be quickly dispatched to ensure a steady flow of electricity.
As though there were no other option, right?
Renewable Friday: Grid Storage
For starters, they’re taking it very seriously – proved by serious spending on technologies to advance climate objectives. We’re a leading investor in renewable energy (behind only the federal government and the utility sector), and our investments in zero and low-carbon technologies from 2000 to 2016 were more than twice that of any other industry sector.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Whew!
No, the leading investors in solar, wind, grid storage, and EVs are in solar, wind, storage, and EVs, not oil and gas. More than $300 billion worth a year.
Reduction in Emissions
U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation have fallen to levels not seen in 30 years, mostly thanks to increased use of clean natural gas. At the same time, methane emissions from natural gas systems have fallen more than 16 percent since 1990 – even as natural gas production increased nearly 52 percent – with the help of advanced technologies.
This one is almost true, which is the worst kind of true. Natural gas has been used as a bridge fuel, with half the carbon intensity of coal, and much less other pollution. We have crossed that bridge, and it is now time to burn it to the ground.
See the link to Grid Storage above.
Mix of Sources
A mix of energy resources will be needed to keep America’s future secure – from natural gas and oil to advanced biofuels and renewables. Natural gas and oil will lead the way, supplying about 63 percent of the energy we use in 2050, according to the federal government. That’s because natural gas and oil are energy-rich, abundant and reliable.
Renewables certainly are part of a sound energy future. The federal government projects they will supply about 14 percent of our energy in 2050. For renewables such as wind and solar to grow, they need natural gas as a partner – furnishing a reliable, quick-ramping fuel source when it’s cloudy or there’s not enough breeze to turn a windmill. Natural gas checks the boxes.
Notice there is no link to that first alleged government source. The second one is the EIA, the US Energy Information Administration. Even before the current Maladministration, EIA was the most benighted and backward group of analysts outside the Koch-funded Cato Institute. Under Trump they are far worse than that.
In a word, bo-o-o-o-ogus. (H/T Car Talk)
Can we meet the IPCC goal of 50% renewables by 2030, and 100% before 2050?
tl;dr Yes, we can. Yes, we will.
Production
The United States is the world’s leading producer of natural gas and oil and the leading refiner, too. Natural gas production in 2017 reached 90.9 billion cubic feet per day, a record. Oil production hit 9.3 million barrels per day, the largest output since 1970. These production numbers translate into economic growth and increased national security, as the U.S. is less reliant on foreign energy sources.
These production numbers translate into looming catastrophe, for the environment through continued warming, and for the industry, from looming bankruptcies. We have seen numerous major coal bankruptcies. Almost every company in fracking has been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy for the last few years, and Wall Street has lost patience with them.
WSJ, Feb. 2019: Frackers Face Harsh Reality as Wall Street Backs Away
Key lifeline for smaller operators fades, as losses pile up and prospects dim for big investment returns
Links! We have Links!
Aug 20, 2016 - The term greenwashing was coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986, back when most consumers received their news from television, radio and print media – the same outlets that corporations regularly flooded with a wave of high-priced, slickly-produced commercials and print ads.
As green business practices grow in popularity, so does the temptation to “greenwash” one’s business to appear more environmentally and socially responsible than it actually is. We examined this phenomenon in an earlier paper, using BP and the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe as a case study and developing a framework for policing dubious claims of corporate social responsibility. This Article revisits these issues focusing on Chevron, an oil company that claims in its advertisements to care deeply about the environment and the communities in which it operates, even as it faces an $18 billion judgment for polluting the Ecuadorean Amazon and injuring its people. After describing Chevron’s “we agree” advertising campaign, the Article sets out our framework for approaching “faux” corporate social responsibility, gauges whether misled consumers and investors might have a legal remedy as a result of Chevron’s advertising claims, and proposes refinements to better regulate corporate greenwashing.
Jul 6, 2018 - In the mid-1980s, oil company Chevron commissioned a series of expensive television and print ads to broadcast its environmental dedication. But while the infamous The People Do campaign ran, Chevron was violating the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and spilling oil into wildlife refuges.
May 21, 2010 - Ironically however, even oil companies have picked up on societys drive ... For some time, Greenpeace has been covering BPs greenwashing.
BP's Slick Greenwashing – Mother Jones
May 4, 2010 - In the last decade, as the world's second largest producer of fossil fuels, the company drilled (and spilled) vast quantities of oil and gas.
Nov 4, 2016 - 10 oil companies announce climate investment fund; sustainable investment campaigners dismiss it as greenwashing.
The new fund will focus on reducing leaks of natural gas…Climate change and sustainable investment campaigners dismissed the initiative as greenwash…The 10 companies that comprise the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) produce 20% of the world’s oil and gas…The OGCI sees…carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology as a way to prolong the continued use of fossil fuels.
Greenwashing (a compound word modelled on "whitewash"), also called "green sheen",[1][2] is a form of spin in which green PR or green marketing is deceptively used to promote the perception an organization's products, aims or policies are environmentally friendly.[3][4]
Evidence an organization is greenwashing often comes from pointing out the spending differences: when significantly more money or time has been spent advertising being "green" (that is, operating with consideration for the environment), than is actually spent on environmentally sound practices.[5]
UCSASA: Fossil Fuel Giants Are Pumping Out Greenwashing—Their ...
In recent months, we’ve seen fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil leave the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), pledge $1 million to support a carbon tax, announce measures to reduce methane emissions, and join the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI). Is the company finally getting serious about addressing climate change? Um, no. ExxonMobil is finally responding to mounting pressure from shareholders, law enforcement, and the public to clean up its climate act. So are other major fossil fuel companies.
That was one of the key findings of the 2018 update to UCS’s Climate Accountability Scorecard, an in-depth analysis of eight major oil, gas, and coal companies’ climate-related positions and actions. But unfortunately, we also found that these companies still appear to be trying to trick us with greenwashing.
Here are six tricks by ExxonMobil and some of its key competitors that we’re countering with our public exposure and organizing…
Electric Vehicles
The EV industry is a welcome but so far feeble counter to the gaslighting. We are only seeing a few TV ads for electric cars this year. I can't find YouTube versions of the Volvo and Jaguar electric car ads I see on TV, but the videos below will do. Available models and advertising will increase rapidly year by year.
Volvo EVs
Volvo intends its car sales to be half electrics and half hybrids by 2025.
Jaguar EV
Electriclighting!? What a concept!