A senior ExxonMobil lobbyist has been captured on camera revealing how the oil giant is using its power and influence to water down US climate legislation.
Does this come as a surprise? Not really. And it points to the fact that ExxonMobil should be broken up.
The explosive footage was obtained by Unearthed, Greenpeace UK’s investigative platform, who posed as head-hunters to obtain the information from one of ExxonMobil’s most senior Washington lobbyists.
The recordings appear to reveal the secretive behind-the-scenes activities of a lobbyist for a company that claims in public to support action on climate change, while fighting against legislative attempts to tackle it.
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During the covert recordings, which have been passed to Channel 4 News, Mr McCoy claims:
- the company secretly fought against legislative action on climate change using third-party organisations
- he lobbied key senators to remove and/or diminish climate change measures from President Biden’s US $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs bill as it proceeds through the legislative process
- he regards trade bodies like the American Petroleum Institute as “whipping boys” in order to avoid public scrutiny on Capitol Hill
The US Senators he named:
Mr. McCoy names 11 senators who he says are “crucial” to ExxonMobil: Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Senator Joe Manchin, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Senator Jon Tester, Senator Maggie Hassan, Senator John Barrasso, Senator John Cornyn, Senator Steve Daines, Senator Chris Coons, Senator Mark Kelly and Senator Marco Rubio
The question is why is ExxonMobil using third parties? What are they hiding? Why are they trying to hide it?
Mr. McCoy described a lobbying strategy in which he claims ExxonMobil uses third parties to mask its interests from public view and accountability.
He said: “We don’t want it to be us, to have these conversations, especially in a hearing. It’s getting our associations to step in and have those conversations and answer those tough questions and be for, the lack of a better term, the whipping boy for some of these members of congress.”
In the past, I have donated to Sinema, Hassan and Kelly. I WON’T BE DOING SO AGAIN! They can run to Exxon since they love them so much.
Full story at www.channel4.com/...
