This story was initially printed by the HuffPost and is reproduced right here as a part of the Local weather Desk collaboration.
Executives from six main oil and gasoline corporations testified throughout a congressional listening to this previous week as gasoline costs neared document highs and a calamitous report on the urgency of preventing local weather change was launched.
The listening to earlier than a Home Committee on Power and Commerce subcommittee targeted on whether or not the trade is prioritizing income over elevated home manufacturing, and lawmakers from each events referred to as on trade executives to get to work and enhance output with a purpose to present reduction on the pump. It was additionally, nevertheless, a uncommon alternative for lawmakers to press main oil executives on what they’re doing to fight local weather change, which their trade has performed an outsized function in driving.
This week, a brand new United Nations report warned that international greenhouse gasoline emissions should peak no later than three years from now, then be slashed almost in half by 2030 with a purpose to stave off the worst results of local weather change.
However that’s nothing to fret about, in keeping with Republicans. As an alternative, two GOP members of the oversight and investigation subcommittee urged trade leaders to cease catering to environmentalists and as an alternative double down on the very power sources which have put the world on a path towards catastrophic and irreversible climatic change.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) famous through the listening to that international power demand is forecast to extend 50 % by 2050 and declared that “renewables won’t ever meet that demand—by no means.” He then rattled off a listing of metals and different assets that must be mined and secured to transition from fossil fuels to renewables. And he touted the greenhouse gasoline emission reductions that might consequence if all coal-generated energy had been changed with pure gasoline.
“That’s the argument try to be making as an alternative of behaving like you may have Stockholm syndrome, like your civility to the novel environmentalists in Congress and this administration will sooner or later get them to love you,” Crenshaw instructed the oil trade executives. “They may by no means such as you.”
“Please rise up to your work, your staff and your shoppers,” he added. “Converse the reality. Don’t pander to what they need on the left, as a result of Individuals want you.”
Reality 1: American oil and gasoline manufacturing is cleaner than another nation.
Reality 2: International power demand WILL improve by 50 % by 2050, with most of that coming from oil and gasoline.
Reality 3: Oil and gasoline contributes to human flourishing. Interval. pic.twitter.com/D55eAByskJ
— Rep. Dan Crenshaw (@RepDanCrenshaw) April 7, 2022
Amongst different issues, Crenshaw’s feedback ignore the struggling and devastation that local weather change-fueled warmth waves, drought, and excessive climate are already inflicting across the globe—and that may develop worse with each extra diploma of warming.
Among the many six executives who obtained Crenshaw’s pep speak had been Chevron CEO Michael Wirth and ExxonMobil CEO Darren W. Woods. Chevron and ExxonMobil are each among the many prime 10 contributors to Crenshaw, donating $29,774 and $23,153, respectively. Crenshaw has obtained a complete of $693,435 in marketing campaign donations from the oil and gasoline trade over his profession, in keeping with information compiled by the Middle for Responsive Politics.
Rep. Invoice Johnson (R-Ohio), one other large beneficiary of trade marketing campaign money, gave an equally obsequious lecture, telling the executives they deserve thanks and reward for what they do “to maintain the lights on” and “fairly actually to gas trendy life as we all know it in America.”
“However there’s an issue,” Johnson mentioned. “Lots of you may have large promoting budgets. Why received’t you inform that story? I’m not going to call names, however we’ve all seen the TV commercials from Huge Oil, crammed with photo voltaic panels, inexperienced local weather messaging about the way you’re diversifying your portfolio and the way you’re embracing liberal, progressive values.”
“What’s been your return on funding with that effort?” Johnson continued. “You’ve taken a shellacking right this moment from the Democrats. Do they appear impressed by your efforts to indicate your allegiance to their anti-fossil gas agenda?”
Johnson fired off a collection of yes-or-no questions on whether or not the executives are pleased with the merchandise and jobs they produce. After getting a collection of sure solutions, he referred to as on the executives to make use of his line of questioning as a template for telling their story.
He accused the trade of “chasing radical inexperienced progressive values.” The oil and gasoline sector has given Johnson $725,609 over his political profession, greater than another trade.
‘You’ve taken a shellacking right this moment from the Democrats’—Rep. Invoice Johnson will get actual labored up on behalf of the fossil gas trade, asking what’s their ‘return on funding’ for embracing ‘radical, inexperienced progressive values’ pic.twitter.com/xG8UmmtyEn
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) April 6, 2022
Earlier within the listening to, executives from BP and Shell touted their corporations’ investments in renewable power, together with wind and photo voltaic, in addition to the electrification of the automotive trade. However these investments pale compared to the sum of money the trade continues to funnel towards new fossil gas manufacturing and tasks.
Republican lawmakers’ rhetoric about fossil fuels being superior to renewables—cheaper and extra dependable—not solely highlights the division in Washington over future power coverage, it additionally underscores one of many essential takeaways from the brand new UN report: that the largest impediment to aggressive local weather motion is just not know-how or the affordability of renewables; it’s political forces.
Renewable power is quickly getting cheaper and extra aggressive. From 2010 to 2019, the worth of photo voltaic power and lithium-ion batteries fell 85 %, whereas wind dropped 55 %, in keeping with the report.
However politicians and conservative suppose tanks repeatedly assault inexperienced power as not but prepared for prime time. A serious instance of right-wing local weather misinformation performed out final winter, when a robust winter storm triggered blackouts throughout Texas. Crenshaw and Johnson joined a refrain of Republicans who initially blamed the grid outages on the failure of wind generators and photo voltaic panels.
“Backside line: renewables don’t work effectively in excessive climate. By no means will,” Crenshaw tweeted on the time. “Can we ever depend on renewables to energy the grid throughout excessive climate? No, you want gasoline or nuclear.”
In actual fact, the major trigger of the lethal blackouts wasn’t that renewables didn’t work within the excessive winter climate. It was that devices froze at coal, nuclear and pure gasoline energy vegetation.
“Let me remind you, individuals die from lack of power—and in massive numbers,” Crenshaw mentioned at Wednesday’s listening to. “I hope all that inexperienced compassion I all the time hear about has some solutions for that.”
He voiced no such hope that present fossil gas infrastructure would show extra dependable the following time Texas experiences excessive climate.