New U.S. Congressional Committees Sponsored Report Reveals Big Oil’s Campaign of Climate Denial, Disinformation, and Doublespeak

New Documents Expose the Fossil Fuel Industry’s Deceptive Commitments to Reduce Emissions, Misleading Statements About the Alleged Climate Safety of Natural Gas, False Promises on New Technologies, and Obstruction of Investigation

A News Release from U.S Congressional Committees Investigating Big Oil’s Efforts To Avoice Accountability for Climate Change

Posted May 3rd, 2024 on Niagara At Large

(A Brief Foreword by Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper – Niagara At Large is posting this blockbuster U.S. Congressional report here because ‘Big Oil’ has corporate tentacles that have an impact on policies for addressing  the climate crisis at all levels of government in Canada and around the world.

‘Big Oil’ and all 0f the oil and gas corporations in the United States, Canada and other countries around the world that fall under its umbrella, is the enemy folks. For the sake of our planet and generations of humans and other living beings to come, we CANNOT let it win.)

Washington, D.C. (April 30, 2024)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, released a joint staff report, entitled “Denial, Disinformation, and Doublespeak: Big Oil’s Evolving Efforts to Avoid Accountability for Climate Change.” 

Today’s (this April 30^th, 2024) report marks a major milestone in a multi-year investigation—initiated by House Oversight Committee Democrats and now a joint investigation with the Senate Budget Committee—and unveils new documents exposing the fossil fuel industry’s role in spreading climate disinformation and preventing action on climate change. 

“The Budget Committee has heard warnings from credible experts about climate-caused economic shocks—many of which are already raising costs for families—and our joint investigation with the House Oversight Committee Democrats reveals new details about the disinformation campaign Big Oil is waging to obstruct action on climate safety,” said Chairman Whitehouse. 

“For decades, the fossil fuel industry has known about the economic and climate harms of its products but has deceived the American public to keep collecting more than $600 billion each year in subsidies while raking in record-breaking profits. 

“As this joint report makes clear, the industry’s outright denial of climate change has evolved into a green-seeming cover for its ongoing covert operation—a campaign of deception, disinformation, and doublespeak waged using dark money, phony front groups, false economics, and relentless exertion of political influence—to block climate progress.”

“The evidence uncovered by Oversight Committee Democrats shows that Big Oil has run campaigns to confuse and mislead the public while working unceasingly to lock down a fossil fuel future,” said Ranking Member Raskin. 

 “The climate crisis is now a civilizational emergency.  Today’s joint report demonstrates that Big Oil continues to conceal the facts about their business model and obscure the actual dangers of fossil fuels, including natural gas, in order to block the climate action we need.”  

“Despite knowing about the devastating effects of their oil and gas products on the planet for decades, the industry has always prioritized its bottom line and chosen low-road PR tactics over a high-road commitment to addressing the crisis.”

The joint report makes the following key findings:

Internal documents obtained by this investigation demonstrate, for the first time, that fossil fuel companies do not dispute that they have known for more than 60 years that burning fossil fuels causes climate change—yet have worked for decades to undermine public understanding and to deny the underlying science. 

In fall 2015, blockbuster reporting by Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times revealed that Big Oil companies, such as ExxonMobil Corporation (Exxon), knew that burning fossil fuels was a major contributor to climate change. 

Companies publicly rejected the reporting at the time—an early draft of Exxon’s response accused reporters of “journalistic malpractice”—but new documents show that fossil fuel companies internally did not dispute the findings. 

For example, a December 2015 email from an Exxon communications advisor indicated that the company agreed with the reporting, writing that Exxon didn’t “actually… dispute much of what these stories report.”

Big Oil’s deception campaign evolved from explicit denial of the basic science underlying climate change to deception, disinformation, and doublespeak. 

The fossil fuel industry evolved from denying climate science to spreading disinformation and perpetuating doublespeak about the safety of natural gas and the industry’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

To read the entire News Release, click on – https://www.budget.senate.gov/chairman/newsroom/press/new-joint-bicameral-staff-report-reveals-big-oils-campaign-of-climate-denial-disinformation-and-doublespeak/#:~:text=Washington%2C%20D.C.%20(April%2030%2C,Oil%27s%20Evolving%20Efforts%20to%20Avoid

To read the whole report, click on ­- 2024-04-30.COA Democrats – Fossil Fuel Report.pdf (house.gov)

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