At GetSolar, we strive to maintain a balanced viewpoint on the clean energy marketplace. We rarely take or advocate a strong unilateral stance on an issue. This week we are making an exception for the recent activities of the American Petroleum Institute (API), America’s largest oil and gas trade association. In keeping with our policy of informed debate, it is essential to examine what appear to be unethical efforts of API to undermine Congressional support for the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES), the Waxman-Markey bill that includes cap and trade legislation and which is moving into the Senate this fall.
API seems to be using corporate resources to plan, promote, and execute a series of fake “grassroots” protests against ACES. American Senators need to be made aware that this “astroturf” campaign reflects the corporate policy of one of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington, and is not an organic movement built by their constituents.
API denies involvement with the protests, despite the by-now infamous email (PDF) from Jack Gerard, API’s President and CEO:
As I have outlined in the past few editions of the weekly “Executive Update,” API is coordinating a series of “Energy Citizen” rallies in about 20 states across the country during the last two weeks of Congress’s August recess.
…At the rallies, we will focus our message on two points: the adverse impacts of unsound energy policy (e.g., Waxman-Markey-like legislation, tax increases, and access limitations) on jobs and on consumers’ energy costs. And we will call on the Senate to oppose unsound energy policy and “get it right.”
…To be clear, API will provide the up-front resources to ensure logistical issues do not become a problem.
The email was obtained and released (PDF) by Greenpeace on August 13th, who sent a copy of the email to API asking for confirmation of its legitimacy. On August 19th, the Oil & Gas Journal reported that:
An API spokeswoman verified that the document was genuine but said that the organization was not sponsoring the effort known as Energy Citizens.
Energy Citizens claims to be a “a nationwide alliance of organizations and individuals formed to bring together people across America to remind Congress that energy is the backbone of our nation’s economy and our way of life”. Their website, full of this fatuous, vague language designed to incite general indignation while failing to provide evidence, is a single call to action: write your Congresspeople and tell them to “reject climate change policies that could raise energy costs and eliminate American jobs.” It’s not quite the same as having a big red “Vote No on ACES” logo–but it’s close.
API’s website links to a call to action very similar to Energy Citizens’, this time under the heading of “Partnership for America’s Energy Security“. The fear-mongering “facts” here are provided by the Heritage Foundation, a major conservative think tank, and by an unverifiable consultancy report. Essentially, API wants to leverage public uncertainty and fear about the economy by sending the message that ACES policies will directly hurt consumers:
Our expectation is to translate peoples’ real concerns for job losses and increased energy costs to all unsound proposals (e.g., Waxman-Markey-like legislation, tax increases, and access limitations).
Strong words from the CEO of a company whose website offers no statement, press release, or news items directly addressing ACES or cap-and-trade policies. On closer inspection, the API ads available for viewing or listening on the site do make the association’s position on ACES very clear, as in this print ad (PDF)–though note that API’s name does not appear anywhere on the full-page spread.
At least API isn’t the only organization associated with Big Oil to behave badly this summer. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity hired a lobbying firm to send letters to members of Congress. The letters were forgeries made in the name of the NAACP and Creciendo Juntos, urging the Congresspeople to oppose climate change legislation due to its potential adverse economic impact on minorities. The scandal broke at the end of July, putting more pressure on Big Oil to find a way to undermine support for ACES before the end of summer recess.
If you’re thinking of all the “green-themed” advertising being run right now by major oil and gas companies (not to mention auto manufacturers) and are feeling a bit confused, it’s no wonder: the industry is putting a cooperative face on for the public, and there’s confusion even among API’s member organizations. Jack Gerard’s email hints at this division:
Unfortunately, we are already experiencing some delay from your regional people since they are not yet aware that headquarters supports the [Energy Citizen rallies].
There should be no confusion. Our country is on the verge of finally taking its place among world leaders in addressing energy security and the causes and effects of climate change. This necessitates a movement away from the status quo, a dependence on fossil fuel technologies.
Of course Big Oil doesn’t like this: it means the industry is going to have to reinvent itself to stay immensely profitable. Spread the word about API’s apparent duplicity. Link to or repost this blog. Talk about it with your colleagues. Email it to your Senator.
We all want climate change legislation that will protect our interests as consumers while encouraging growth in technology, trade, and the job market. If you disagree with ACES, it is your right and privilege to demonstrate against it: but using all the tools in the corporate toolkit and calling it “grassroots” is an offense against the principles of a representative democracy, and an abuse of the right to free speech.
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