Comparing oil companies to Big Tobacco, House Democrats brought the CEOs of ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP America before cameras for what they described as a “historic hearing” on the companies’ role for decades in climate disinformation.
change and lied about it, saying they acted in good faith to cut emissions and were merely following the science at the time.
As the CEOs testified virtually, Democrats confronted them with internal documents showing Exxon scientists acknowledging that burning of fossil fuels would cause climate change, even as the company’s leader at the time was calling the link “inconclusive.” Yet Democrats on the panel dismissed those efforts as “greenwashing”— a cynical attempt to portray their operations as far more environmentally friendly than they are.
The immediate trigger for Thursday’s hearing was a scandal in July over an undercover video of an Exxon lobbyist detailing the company’s lobbying efforts against action on climate change. But congressional Democrats have wanted to grill Big Oil executives on climate for some time. This was the first time the CEOs have been under oath for a hearing focused on climate disinformation.
Republicans on the panel dismissed the hearing as a pointless attempt to embarrass oil companies that they said underpin U.S. economic security by providing reliable energy that the country needs. They also used the session as a chance to hammer President Joe Biden for actions they said had harmed U.S. energy independence and killed jobs, such as rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline.
Khanna, who oversees the committee’s subpanel on the environment, asked the CEOs to commit to reducing their production of fossil fuels, as called for by the Paris Agreement. The CEOs dodged, saying only they’d commit to reducing emissions from the energy they do extract.
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