Message From the Editor

This week, investigative reporter Julie Dermansky published a collection of photos she shot last year in South Louisiana to illustrate the Gulf Coast’s rapidly expanding fossil fuel industry, and the groundswell of frontline community members, environmental advocates, and activists fighting to stop it.

The selection of images counters fossil fuel industry narratives that claim expanding the United States’ capacity to export LNG and increasing the demand for hydrogen fuel and the development of CCS technology benefit the public — and the climate. They also highlight the contradiction between the Biden administration’s stated agenda to combat the climate crisis and its policies that increase global reliance on fossil fuels.

In another co-published investigation, Emily Sanders of ExxonKnews dives into Gibson Dunn, the law firm helping Big Oil weaponize the First Amendment.

For years, the fossil fuel industry has maintained that the First Amendment protects its right to mislead the public about the climate crisis, but that criticism and protest of its operations violates the law. Now, Gibson Dunn — which has long been recognized for its defense of the First Amendment — is arguing both sides of this issue in court.

Gibson Dunn has argued that Chevron and other oil companies’ statements about climate change constitute First Amendment protected “political speech”, or speech concerning public opinion and policy, while arguing on behalf of pipeline company Energy Transfer in a landmark lawsuit intended to silence the fossil fuel industry’s critics.

“I think that while everybody deserves a lawyer, Gibson Dunn has a reputation of using strategies that many perceive as abusing the legal system to defend the wealthy at the expense of disempowered people and communities,” says attorney Lauren Regan, who has defended her clients against a number of lawsuits by the fossil fuel industry.

Finally, in collaboration with Climate Whistleblowers, we are excited to announce an upcoming online event on February 1: “How can I help expose greenwashing?” In this short info session, you can learn more about the world of investigative journalism and how you can be a part of frontline climate action. Sign up here!

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected]. Want to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Investigative journalism like this is made possible by readers like you. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?

Image credit: Julie Dermansky

DeSmog x Climate Whistleblowers: How can I help expose greenwashing?

— Thursday February 1, 2024 5 - 6 PM CET —

To accelerate collaboration on climate action, Creatives for Climate has launched new partnerships in the global collaboration Hub with allies DeSmog and Climate Whistleblowers to provide more ways for professionals to become frontline change agents of change!

In this short info session, Laura Paquemar Project officer at Climate Whistleblowers and Investigative Reporter TJ Jordan will join to outline how creatives can contribute their experiences to stories that expose greenwashing while protecting themselves with practical legal advice.

See How Louisiana’s Growing Fossil Fuel Industry Threatens Climate and Justice Promises

— By Julie Dermansky (9 min. read) —

Photos I shot last year in South Louisiana illustrate the Gulf Coast’s rapidly expanding fossil fuel industry, and the groundswell of frontline community members, environmental advocates, and activists fighting to stop it. 

While climate impacts intensify along the Gulf Coast, the Louisiana, Texas, and federal governments are poised to permit a growing number of proposed hydrogen manufacturing facilities equipped with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals. The projects under consideration, if permitted, not only will contribute to climate-warming emissions, but also will be vulnerable to the very climate impacts the projects will exacerbate.

The Law Firm Helping Big Oil Weaponize the First Amendment

— By Emily Sanders (9 min. read) —

For years, the fossil fuel industry has maintained that the First Amendment protects its right to mislead the public about the climate crisis, but that criticism and protest of its operations violates the law. Now, one of the industry’s preferred law firms — which has long been recognized for its defense of the First Amendment — is arguing both sides of this issue in court. 

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher represents oil giant Chevron in lawsuits brought by dozens of state and local governments to hold the company accountable for deceiving consumers and the public about its products’ central role in climate change.

North Sea Bill’s Carbon Emissions Test is a ‘Smokescreen’ And ‘Makes No Sense’ — Experts

— By Adam Barnett and Phoebe Cooke (4 min. read) —

A climate test in the new North Sea oil and gas bill is “misleading” and greatly overplays the UK’s climate leadership, scientists and campaigners have warned. 

MPs are today (Monday) set to debate the second reading of the controversial Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, which would allow oil and gas companies to bid for North Sea licenses every year.

Inaction on Climate Change Is a Death Sentence for Emperor Penguin Chicks

— By Julie Dermansky (8 min. read) —

My fellow cruise ship passengers toasted to their luck for being able to partake in a celebratory barbeque on the ship’s deck after visiting Snow Hill — a remote island in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea that is home to an emperor penguin colony. While it was warm enough to dine outdoors that evening on November 21, I couldn’t bring myself to raise a glass.

The unseasonably high temperature that made outdoor dining possible was also melting snow and ice at all of the emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica, condemning to death many of the chicks that we just travelled long distances to observe. Despite the great lengths emperor penguins go to protect their chicks — made famous by the movie March of the Penguins — if the sea ice where they hatch and grow breaks up before they are done fledging they will drown or freeze to death. 

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Legatum Institute

The Legatum Institute was founded in 2007 by the Legatum Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Dubai-based investment firm the Legatum Group. According to financial disclosures, in 2014 The Legatum Institute transferred activities from the Legatum Institute to the Legatum Institute Foundation, “a fully functioning educational charity and a non-partisan global think tank, focused on researching, understanding and promoting prosperity in its broadest sense.” An article posted on Legatum Institute’s website entitled “Fighting Climate Change with Freedom“ states that: “Population growth—not capitalism—is the biggest cause of climate change, and the best way to save the planet is to give women more control over their own fertility.”

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database.