The American Petroleum Institute , the largest lobbying arm for the oil colour and gasoline industriousness , enunciate this week it supports a carbon taxation . The response from Republicans , which the group rains money down on , has been less - than - welcoming .
The GOP ’s top climate - conscious star in the House call it “ a cop - out approach to appease the basal left . ” That sentence is deeply , deeply trouble on so many level . But it makes clear one thing : That bipartisan climate legislation is a pipe dream . It ’s largely due to years of API poisoning the well — and the chemical group ’s sanction will almost sure enough end up ensuring nothing change .
On Thursday , API said it would project its bread and butter behind a administration - plant C tax . “ face the challenge of climate change and building a low - carbon futurity will demand a compounding of government insurance policy , industry initiatives and continuous innovation , ” API president Mike Sommers said in astatement .
Drill, baby, drill.Photo: Jeri Clausing (AP)
https://gizmodo.com/leaked-big-oil-docs-hint-at-support-for-a-carbon-tax-b-1846388742
For all the fanfare around API ’s move , it ’s not like they ’re endorsing the Green New Deal . A tax on atomic number 6 is perhaps one of the most basic mood policy out there — and it ’s most definitely not part of any “ radical left over ” docket . It has the endorsement of oil color companies and even some major nonprofits , which are part of thebipartisan Climate Leadership Council . And now , the oil manufacture ’s lobbying wing is into it . Yet it ’s almost certainly DOA with Republicans legislators , and that ’s for the most part because API has spent the previous decennium - plus railing against any type of policy that puts a terms on carbon .
Yet at the prison term , APIran an adin the Washington Post against the broadside monish consumer , “ if you care $ 4 gasoline , you ’ll love the House Climate Bill . ” The greenback cease up pass the House with only eight of the 176 Republicans in supporting , but wasnever even taken up for a votein the Senate due to GOP pushback .
Now , API has come around to a toll on carbon copy — albeit by volunteer short details on what say taxation could look like — after decades of demonizing insurance to do so . The circumstance it helped make will see to it buzz off even eight Republicans to sign on will be all but impossible . In Rep. Graves’statementissued in response to API ’s move , which he said was design to “ appease the revolutionary left ” ( lol ) , Graves also warned the tax “ will increase the price of virtually everything we buy . ” It ’s a near - perfect replication of API ’s 2009 advert about natural gas prices .
Graves is n’t some hardcore climate denier , but rather the Republican ranking member on the House Climate Crisis commission — the bipartisan citizens committee that ’s hypothesize to be figuring out how to create climate action at law that works for both sides of the aisle . He received a wave ofpositive presswhen he joined the citizens committee in 2019 on his purportedly progressive situation on climate , especially as a representative from Louisiana , a DoS with a fossil fuel economy but that ’s also suffering the firsthand shock of extracting and refining that vegetable oil and gas .
“ I really do n’t think this has to be a partisan exit , although it surely can devolve to that , ” Gravestold CBSat the time the committee member were announced . “ countenance ’s learn a little bit more about the skill , and Diamond State - politicize it so we can focalise on the facts . ”
Graves may seem like a rebel against oil and gas , but he ’s actually in their pocket : API appendage like Chevron , Exxon and Occidental weresome of Graves ’s top political contributorslast class . Meanwhile , API is also continuing to fund some of the loudest clime denier in Washington , DC , like Sen. Jim Inhofe and Rep. Steve Scalise . And Sen. John Barrasso , another big industry moneyrecipient who hasgarnered attention recentlyfor ostensibly softening his anti - climate posture , echoed Graves in astatementabout API ’s move : “ Proposals that impose a cost on carbon will hurt American families . ”
It ’s clear that Big Oil is trying to set up a profits - winnings situation for itself : look reasonable by endorsing climate legislation while continuing to fund Republicans in Congress who will ensure that legislation does n’t run . It ’s an update to the playbook API has used for old age . The grouping was monish about the negative impact of fossil fuelsas far back as 1959 — but has been at the forefront of push climate denial ever since , directly influencingthe GOP ’s lurch toward conspiracies that has drive in up any rich conversation around clime insurance . As the industry at largemakes a desperate pivotto look like they ’re work on climate change , their “ evolve ” stance should be take with a bountiful texture of salt .
Carbon financeExxonLow - carbon paper economyPolitics
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