Exxon Hires Ex-Official Who Doctored Global Warming Docs
Exxon Hires Ex-Official Who Doctored Global Warming Docs
June 8, 2005: Media reveals Philip Cooney — a White House official who worked for the oil industry before joining the administration — is altering government documents to downplay links between fossil fuels and global warming.
A White House official [Philip Cooney] who once led the oil industry’s fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents.
June 10, 2005: Amid controversy Cooney Resigns.
Philip A. Cooney, the chief of staff to President Bush’s Council on Environmental Quality, resigned yesterday, White House officials said.
June 13, 2005: Cooney hired by ExxonMobil.
Philip A. Cooney, the White House staff member who repeatedly revised government scientific reports on global warming, will go to work for ExxonMobil in the fall, the oil company said today.
In case you have any doubt about why ExxonMobil hired him, check out this morning’s Wall Street Journal:
Openly and unapologetically, the world’s No. 1 oil company disputes the notion that fossil fuels are the main cause of global warming. Along with the Bush administration, Exxon opposes the Kyoto accord and the very idea of capping global-warming emissions.
The headlines will read that Cooney was hired by Exxon today. The reality is he never stopped working there. The taxpayers were just taking care of his salary for the last few years.
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
16 Responses to “Exxon Hires Ex-Official Who Doctored Global Warming Docs”
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Think ProgressContact Us
Donate
Didn’t take him long to cash in…
June 14th, 2005 at 10:21 pmAfter the valdez disaster I swore off Exxon, I was pretty young and have never been an activist, but I haven’t pulled into an Exxon station since.
A few years ago they bought Mobil and i have checked them off my list also.
I’m 42 now and this passive boycott is so ingrained in me that I don’t even see thier signs anymore.
Hopefully this act by them will disappear thier logo from many more disgusted citizen’s minds.
June 15th, 2005 at 2:36 amIt really makes me realize just how stupid my government thinks I am. Couldn’t they at least be just a tiny bit less obvious?
Next thing you know, they will be wanting approval of William Myers, a government lobbyist and anti-environmentalist, to a lifetime appointment as a judge of the 9th circuit. The man doesn’t even have judicial experience–just spent his time working as a lawyer for industrial interests at the Dept. of Interior.
Next thing you know, they’ll be expecting me to go out and buy my own Vaseline.
June 15th, 2005 at 4:46 amJust how long is going to take before that “other party” starts jumping on this and the countless other outrageous actions of Bush and his cronies? Dean speaks up and his own party runs from him. The dems to to grow some!
June 15th, 2005 at 9:21 amIn one arena it is called “fixing the intelligence around policy” here it is changing the science to match policy. In either case what it comes down to is lying to the American people and the world to suit their bedfellows. Much as I doubt Michael Jackson, I am quite certain that the Repblicans and Exxon/Mobil are doing things far more obscene and damaging.
June 15th, 2005 at 9:31 am290 ppm of CO2 in 1890
315 ppm of CO2 in 1960
353 ppm of CO2 in 1988
But, according to David Hofmann, director of NOAA’s Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL) in Boulder , Colo. , the rate of carbon-dioxide increase returned to the long-term average level of about 1.5 ppm per year in 2004, indicating that the temporary fluctuation was probably due to changes in the natural processes that remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
1.5 ppm x 115 = 172.5
172.5 + 290 = 362.5 ppm of CO2 in atmosphere in 2005
The industrial revolution replaced all of the natural CO2 that was in the atmosphere before the industrial revolution.
Of the 362.5 ppm, the 290 ppm is from natural evapotranspiration, i.e. animals that exhale CO2. Lots of birds and other wildlife on earth besides humans, but includes humans, too. The bird population of North America, including Mexico is estimated at 20 billion. Every time you exhale, you release CO2 into the atmosphere.
The carboniferous period in geologic time epochs had ten times more CO2 in the atmosphere than it does today.
362.5 ppm translates to 362.5 cubic feet of CO2 for every million cubic feet of atmosphere.
If we’re going to live on this earth, we must accept the facts that ‘anthropogenic’ forces will factor into the scheme of things.
The Chinese are buying autos at the rate of 20,000 per week. Exxon will probably increase their profits again this year.
If the answer is to go without a car, a furnace to heat your home, etc., I don’t know what will have to be done to stop manmade CO2. Go back to living in a hut with no electricity or heat and live to the ripe old age of 45 again. Otherwise, we’ll have to grin and bear it.
June 15th, 2005 at 9:34 amForgot to include this:
As measured in air samples collected from over 60 sites in NOAA’s Global Cooperative Observing Network, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increased by nearly 5 parts per million (ppm) between 2001 and 2003. The increase in 2002 was 2.43 ppm; the increase in 2003 was 2.30 ppm. In other words, more than two additional carbon-dioxide molecules were added to each million molecules of air each year during that period. The annual increase was higher than the long-term average annual CO2 increase of approximately 1.5 ppm.
June 15th, 2005 at 9:36 amoops
June 15th, 2005 at 9:40 amIt is just an item in the newspaper and I wouldn’t call it news. It is exactley what I expect from these idiotes, just call it information.
June 15th, 2005 at 11:00 amThe vast majority of Bush Administration appointees are on a taxpayer-funded hiatus from whatever corporate monolith they previously represented.
This story illustrates just how securely the Bush admin is tethered to big business, oil, pharmaceuticals, etc…
Let’s break it up, folks. Nothing to see here….
June 15th, 2005 at 11:11 amLast summer it was Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me” which led me to never again go into McDonald’s. This summer the revelations about Philip Cooney and Exxon Mobil will lead me to a lifetime ban on Exxon and Mobil gas stations. The least we can do is take our business away from them, although I doubt if the other oil companies are any better. The best course would be to limit auto travel and use a bicycle whenever possible.
June 15th, 2005 at 12:58 pmUhm…when exactly wasn’t he working for Exxon?
June 15th, 2005 at 1:56 pmNow we know what he means when he says he “wants to spend more time with his family.”
June 19th, 2005 at 9:42 pmnfl
In your free time, check some relevant information in the field of spiel
October 16th, 2005 at 6:53 pm[…] “Censorship issues return front and center to Congress today” when the House oversight committee resumes its inquiry into reported Bush administration interference in federal climate science,” featuring testimony by infamous Bush official turned Exxon lobbyist Philip Cooney. […]
March 19th, 2007 at 9:08 am[…] on Environmental Quality who made hundreds of edits to government climate reports in ways that played down links between human activity and global warming. He worked for the American Petroleum Institute before coming to the Bush administration, and left […]
March 20th, 2007 at 12:12 pm