It’s no shocker that, as today’s Wall Street Journal points out, ExxonMobil continues to balk at any effort to curb emissions linked to global warming.
But it is appalling to learn that BP, which even incorporated the color green into its logo, is lobbying just as aggressively against Senate efforts to limit global warming pollution. The Independent newspaper in the UK reported over the weekend that BP is showing “two faces” — marketing itself to the public as an environmentally progressive company, while “privately lobbying in Washington to block legislation to introduce a mandatory curb on greenhouse gases in the US.”
The oil companies are uniting to focus special fire on what is considered a “moderate” plan on global warming, modeled on recommendations of the National Commission on Energy Policy, Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) has suggested he may introduce the plan as an amendment to the energy bill on the Senate floor this week and next. The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s lobbying arm, has denounced the Energy Commission plan in a series of increasingly frantic e-mails distributed on Capitol Hill.
The Energy Information Administration recently reported that the commission plan, which would set a limit on global warming pollution, would have little negative impact on the economy, despite the claims of the oil companies.
— Frank O’Donnell, Clean Air Watch