Big Oil has had areckoning with the public . It ’s had areckoning in court . And on Thursday , it will have a enumeration in front of Congress ’ most powerful committee .
The House Oversight Committee will host four oil colour leaders and two trade radical that have propagate misinformation to account for their theatrical role in confusing the populace on mood change . The earreach has been likened to a1994 appearance by vainglorious Tobacco CEOsbefore Congress . But in some agency , the hearing on Thursday will be more consequential .
Fossil fuels have fiddle a key role in ram the thriftiness — and press the planet to the brink of destruction . Those twin achievements have been tie to Big Oil ’s decades of deception ; scientists inside the companies like Exxon and Shell knew that burn fossil fuels decline the climate crisis . But rather than change course , oil companies spent 1000000 to sow doubtfulness about if their product caused the climate crisis , take into account them to sink their tentacle further into the ball-shaped thriftiness . The auditory modality will be a prospect for Congress to poke into that history , and how party have turned to greenwashing more recently in an effort to stay essential .
Rep. Ro Khanna speaks at an “End Fossil Fuel” rally near the U.S. Capitol on 12 February 2025, in Washington, DC.Photo: Anna Moneymaker (Getty Images)
How to Watch Congress’ Big Oil Hearing
The hearing kicks off at 10:30 a.m. ET on Thursday . The Oversight Committee is helpfully livestreaming it . And we ’re helpfully embedding it here .
The hearing is like to sport some firework . In a jam release herald it , the citizens committee noted that it ask for document on September 16 but “ all the dodo fuel entities have give out to adequately follow with the Committee ’s request . ”
What’s the Point of the Big Oil Hearing?
Journalists and academics have spend the past few year dismantling Big Oil ’s clime misinformation campaign . Alandmark investigationby Inside Climate News in 2015 expose Exxon ’s tenner ofresearch into climate changethat the fellowship then covered up . researcher at Harvard and elsewhere have probed the depth of Big Oil ’s ad campaigns to confuse the populace , notably Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway in a originative book , merchant of Doubt .
But getting Congress in on the human action ratchets up the pressure on these firms . Unlike academic and journalist , Congress has the might to subpoena documents and bring in witnesses . And agrowing percentage of the U.S. publicwants to see the diligence held to account .
“ It ’s the first meter that the oil company chief executive officer have ever testified before a congressional committee , ” Richard Wiles , the executive director of the Center for Climate Integrity , say . “ They dare many other committees , but I intend it was the scourge of the subpoena and the general atmosphere of clime legislation impress forward and the bull [ league of the Parties , or UN clime talks ] around the corner that has led them to comply for the first metre ever . ”
OK, So Who’s Showing Up?
All the oil company you have it away to detest will be there . Exxon , Chevron , and BP ’s U.S. segmentation are sending their chief executive officer while Shell is sending their U.S. president . In summation , the presidents of the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will also be present . On the other side of the dais will sit at least 30 Democratic members of Congress who require a guessing at questioning the leaders as well as Republican member of the House Oversight Committee Subcommittee on the Environment . ( Yes , it ’s a mouthful . )
The hearing will be practical , similar to the Big Tech hearings take hold over the retiring year , which think of this wo n’t quite have the optical pizzazz of the large Tobacco hearings .
Republicans are largely expected to be well-disposed with the industry . In alettersent in the first place this calendar month to Rep. Carolyn Maloney , the head of the committee , Reps . James Comer and Jody Hice , said that Democrats postulate CEOs to appear in individual “ reveals the tangible motivations of this investigation : to turn it into a spectacle . ”
Oil Companies Make Sense, but Why the Trade Groups?
While Exxon , Shell , BP , and Chevron are home names , API and the Chamber might be less conversant . They play an of import function , though , in shaping public ruling about the fogey fuel manufacture . Areport liberate just this summerby Brown University ’s Climate and Development Lab chronicle the innumerous ways the Chamber of Commerce has sowed public doubt and blocked climate action . The group sum up not just oil companies on its rank rolls ; itclaims to represent3 million business across the U.S. Unraveling its relationship with the rock oil industriousness is central to figuring out just where embodied America place upright on climate modification .
API is the oil industry ’s main deal group . They ’ve oftenstood in the means of climate action . According toBenjamin Franta , a history PhD campaigner at Stanford who has explored the clime misinformation ecosystem , the group also had “ a secret task force , including scientist from almost every major oil party , to supervise climate change enquiry . ”
Wiles call them the “ trounce boys for the fellowship , as the sort of front group , if you will , that survive out and does the pestiferous employment so the companies can say that they ’re clear . ”
What Can We Expect Congress to Ask?
It ’s likely interpreter will seek to get the companies and trade group to talk about the decades of clime denial and misinformation . catch them on the book could supply evidence for use of goods and services in court of law cases being bring in by city and states as well as external suits .
rock oil company have pivoted in recent years from all - out questioning climate science to say that they can be part of the solution . They ’ve issued call aboutcarbon - impersonal gas , used influencersto pitch their essentialness , andleaned into fresh jargonthatmakes oil sound less damagingto the mood than it is . member of the committee will likely to attempt to pin the CEOs down on their claims . That could pay dividend in court and for a turn of complaints around delusive advertising and greenwashing . It could also bolster frontline communities fight newfangled fossil fuel project .
The industry has also gummed up the political process for yr . The most egregious recent deterrent example is a now - former Exxon lobbyist being caught on tape peach about how the company supports a carbon copy tax because it ’s a serious “ talk point ” that it have sex will never pass and calling Sen. Joe Manchin a “ kingmaker . ” Between the contaminated discussion and polluted political organisation , there ’s a lot of threads Congress could tie together .
The Hearing Is Just the Start of an Investigation
Rep. Ro Khanna , the chair of the subcommittee convening the hearing , told E&E Newsthat “ this earreach is the start of the investigation , not the end , not the culmination , just like the tobacco hearings . ” Congress has already put in document requests , and we can expect more after the CEOs and trade radical leaders attest .
“ The Oversight Committee is the most powerful investigative committee in the House , arguably in the Congress , and they have broad subpoena baron to request documents , ” Wiles pronounce . “ If they take it seriously and employ that power , I think they could go a long way to a better understanding of the extent and the details of the ongoing and past disinformation drive run by these industries that have been the most consequential disinformation campaigns in history . ”
ExxonGreenwashingJoe ManchinOil companiesShell
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