Plus, climate activists protest at ad agency’s global headquarters ...
From the Editor's Desk
The Senate just barely passed Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, which some critics in Congress nicknamed the “Big Blackout Bill” because of potential disruptions to the energy grid from its clean energy cuts.
There’s a Trump-whisperer responsible for the thinking behind those cuts you may not have heard of: It’s the climate denier and self-described fossil-fuel “philosopher” Alex Epstein.
This week, Sharon Kelly takes a close look at Epstein’s lobbying background and influence on crafting the bill’s energy cuts. To give you an idea of Epstein’s thinking: He once called climate talks “an anti-human, primitive-religious attempt to commit mass genocide.”
Really?
Even GOP Sen. Thom Tillis said last week he’d had enough of Epstein’s destructive ideas. During debates over the bill last weekend, the conservative North Carolina lawmaker took to the Senate floor to decry lobbyists like Epstein pushing huge energy moves.
“It’s another classic example where think tanks and people that haven’t worked a day in business are setting policy in the White House without a clue about what they are potentially doing to our grid,” Tillis said Sunday night, just hours after announcing he wouldn’t run for reelection.
Critics like Tillis say the bill will destabilize the grid, wipe out clean jobs, and hand fossil fuel lobbyists a pen to write America’s energy future — all while claiming to support “freedom.” Read Sharon’s story here for more.
While Big Oil has clearly influenced Trump’s latest energy policies, it looks like the powerful sector’s influence has now crept into the education system of the U.S.’s neighbor to the north.
Did you know that Pathways Alliance — Canada’s most powerful tar sands lobby group — is sponsoring children’s science fairs across Alberta? This week, DeSmog’s Taylor Noaks writes about this double-edged initiative.
Yes, the same alliance pushing to dump toxic tailings pond water into the Athabasca River and build a 1,600-km carbon pipeline is now influencing K-12 education.
Environmental groups say this is classic greenwashing: buying goodwill while pushing science denial and failed carbon capture schemes. Taylor writes that physicians warn that nearly every Canadian province is affected by fossil fuel propaganda in schools — from kindergarten curriculum to films like “The Amazing Athabaskan Oil Sands.”
Meanwhile, Indigenous communities downstream are still battling real toxic fallout. We hope you share DeSmog’s full investigation into Pathways’ PR playbook widely.
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. DeSmog continues to keep you informed about threats to our climate across the globe — from up-to-the minute reporting to essential database profiles that help others fight climate denial and delay. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?
Photo credit: Unsplash
Who’s the Fossil Fuel-Backed “Philosopher” Shaping Trump’s Megabill Clean Energy Cuts?
— By Sharon Kelly (7 min. read) —
GOP Sen. Thom Tillis took to Senate floor to decry lobbyists like Alex Epstein pushing huge energy moves “without a clue about what they are potentially doing to our grid.”
Pathways Alliance Sponsored Science Fairs for Canadian Children
— By Taylor Noakes (5 min. read) —
Paying for social license is ‘no substitute for solving environmental problems,’ say critics.
Climate Activists Protest at London Headquarters of Global Ad Giant WPP
— By Ellen Ormesher (3 min. read) —
The agency’s work for the fossil fuel industry has made it “complicit in causing existential harm to people and planet”, say campaigners, who are calling on WPP to drop those clients.
On Coal Mining, Danielle Smith Has Two Contradictory Messages
— By Taylor Noakes (6 min) —
The Alberta premier wants to replace coal and mine it at the same time.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
MAPPED: 70 Percent of Trump’s Cabinet Tied to Project 2025 Groups
— By Joe Fassler (20 min. read) —
More than 50 high-level Trump administration officials have links to groups behind the Heritage Foundation-backed plan, a DeSmog analysis found.
From the Climate Disinformation Database: Alex Epstein
Alex Epstein is the director of the Center for Industrial Progress (CIP), a for-profit think tank whose mission is to “inspire Americans to embrace industrial progress as a cultural ideal.” Epstein is also a blogger at Master Resource, a “Free Market Energy Blog,” and a past fellow of the Ayn Rand Institute, an organization that has received funding from the Koch Family Foundations. In 2023, referencing climate denier Bjorn Lomborg, Epstein wrote, “While ‘climate change’ — humans impacting climate — is real, ‘climate emergency’ is not. A world in which far more people die of cold than of heat is slowly becoming warmer — and our ability to master climate danger is rapidly increasing.“ In 2021, he also stated, “If you don’t admit that today’s world is amazing because of fossil fuels, you are totally unqualified to make any predictions about the future because either you are anti-human or ignorant.”
Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database, Ad & PR Database, and Koch Network Database.
