Big Oil Avoids Senate Climate Hearing. What Are They Hiding?
At 11:00 a.m. ET, the Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing on the true cost of climate change. Big Oil CEOs with seats on the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) board of directors were invited to testify. Two of them — BP America and Chevron — promptly declined. Though it was also invited, ExxonMobil is not listed as a witness.
While each corporation touts their purported support for climate-friendly policies like reducing emissions and meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, their refusal to testify paints a different picture. Perhaps these companies do not want to be placed in the uncomfortable position of squaring their feel-good environmental ad campaigns with their leadership in a group like API, which has spent decades fighting efforts to address the climate crisis.
“The fact that these companies have seats on the board of the American Petroleum Institute tells us everything we need to know about their motive for skipping an important Senate hearing about the true cost of inaction on climate change,” said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US. “Rather than remaining complicit, these companies should be testifying and rejecting API’s decades long opposition to meaningful efforts to address the climate crisis.”
“If these oil and gas CEOs were serious about addressing the climate crisis, they’d show up to this hearing before Congress to detail their solutions for bold climate action,” said Lori Lodes, Executive Director of Climate Power Education Fund. “Instead they continue to hide behind their lobbyists at API and fight against real solutions for creating a clean energy economy that will create millions of good-paying jobs and leave a better planet for future generations.”
For additional information about BP America, Chevron, and ExxonMobil’s penchant for touting their credentials on climate change while refusing to attend a Senate hearing on climate change, review the full research dossier.
POLLUTERS EXPOSED, is a joint initiative between Accountable.US and Climate Power Education Fund that seeks to hold the American Petroleum Institute (API), its member companies, executives, and allies accountable for decades of spreading misinformation as they pollute our communities and planet.
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