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In a first-of-its-kind hearing, top oil executives testified under oath about their industry's role in spreading climate disinformation and funding efforts to stop clean energy.
By the end of the hearing, members of Congress had accused the CEOs of lying, and the CEOs made it clear they would continue to fund lobbying efforts against greenhouse gas emission reductions.
Taking on the powerful American Petroleum Institute, Rep. Ro Khanna called on oil companies to quit API because of its opposition to climate-friendly policies like electric vehicle subsidies and methane regulations.
“Would any of you take the opportunity and look at API and say, ‘stop it’?” Khanna asked. None of the executives responded, and none would commit to leaving API.
Representative Katie Porter also took on API for its opposition to a pause on oil and gas leasing on national public lands. Porter noted that the oil industry is sitting on 7,700 unused drilling permits across 13.9 million acres of leased but unused public land. Pointing to bags full of rice in the back of her car, Porter illustrated that if each of those unused acres was a grain of rice, it would weigh 479 pounds.
The hearing concluded with committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney announcing she would issue subpoenas to API and the oil companies for internal documents about their role creating the climate crisis.
Climate emerges as biggest part of Build Back Better
As prescription drugs, paid family leave, and free community college have fallen out of President Biden's Build Back Better plan, $555 billion in climate spending has emerged as the largest remaining piece of the spending bill. The framework President Biden announced includes $300 billion in tax incentives for producers and buyers of solar, wind, and nuclear power, while electric vehicles would come with up to $12,500 in tax credits.
But without new penalties for power companies that continue to pollute, the plan would not reach Biden's campaign pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half from their 2005 levels by the end of this decade—a move that scientists say is necessary to avoid the most disastrous effects of climate change.
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