In today’s Washington Post, David Fahrenthold’s front-page story spends its first 15 paragraphs detailing Big Oil’s massive campaign against clean energy while incredibly avoiding any mention of one little detail: money.
In fact, to believe the first 15 paragraphs, the reason polluters have such a strong voice in the national debate is because conservation groups are “struggling” and “slow.” Not a single mention of polluters’ massive money advantage in the first 540 words.
Then, almost as an afterthought, Fahrenthold drops this in as paragraph 16:
Oil and natural gas groups have always had deeper pockets. In the first six months of 2009, the Center for Responsive Politics found they spent $82.1 million lobbying Washington on various issues, including climate policy. In the same time, environmental and health groups concerned with climate change spent about $6.6 million on lobbying and clean-energy firms $12.1 million, according to two other analyst groups, the Center for Public Integrity and New Energy Finance.
But those figures don’t even come close to telling the real story of the financial disparity between polluters and conservationists. Exxon Mobil alone - just one of many oil and coal giants - turned a $40 billion profit in 2007. That was the largest profit in the history of the planet (#2 on the list: also Exxon Mobil, 2006).
Of course, that’s just profit. Exxon Mobil’s annual revenue in 2007 was $404.5 billion. Exxon Mobil alone has an annual budget hundreds of times that of every conservation group put together.
And as we’ve covered, polluters are using that money not to present facts, but to push distortions, lies, and outright fraud. But again, the Post gives a free pass—mentioning pro-polluter contacts to Congress without mentioning many of those have been proven to be phony and funded by industry front groups.
People often ask me if I’m disappointed by polls showing six in ten Americans support clean energy & climate legislation. With energy price spikes and a climate in crisis, shouldn’t the numbers be higher?
But with Big Oil’s big money and free passes like this from the media, my response is that I’m constantly amazed that Americans see right through the lies and misinformation to support what’s right for our economy now and for our children’s future. I just hope the Senate follows their constituents’ lead this fall to pass a strong clean energy & climate bill.
Cross-posted from the National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Promise
API and ACCCE spend the big bucks
How industry pressures and competing national agendas dim prospects for a climate treaty
Comments
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skitters Posted 1:25 pm
31 Aug 2009
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Anna Haynes Posted 12:27 am
15 Sep 2009
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Anna Haynes Posted 12:35 pm
15 Sep 2009
against clean energy while incredibly avoiding any mention of one
little detail: money."Just an FYI, though, I do see a reference to oil $$ in para 8 -" And they are facing an opposition with tycoon money and a gift for political stagecraft."(Perhaps it was edited after Miles wrote this post, perhaps not...)
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Anna Haynes Posted 8:43 am
15 Sep 2009
risk management (ERM) in business includes the methods and processes
used by organizations to manage risks and seize opportunities related
to the achievement of their objectives. ERM ...typically involves
identifying particular events or circumstances relevant to the
organization's objectives (risks and opportunities), assessing them in
terms of likelihood and magnitude of impact, determining a response
strategy, and monitoring progress. By identifying and proactively
addressing risks and opportunities, business enterprises protect and
create value for their stakeholders, including owners, employees,
customers, regulators, and society overall."
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_risk_management"ERM [Enterprise risk management] moved to [Peter
Fahrenthold's] department, and his financial experience has helped him
with his work on the ERM initiative.
...The Continental Airlines risk manager sees ERM as a big opportunity for himself and for other risk managers.
"It
certainly increases the exposure that I have to certain aspects of the
business," says Fahrenthold. "As a risk manager, ERM is an opportunity
to get out of the insurance pigeonhole. You get more opportunity to get
involved in strategy, and it puts you in a position to look at the
broad expanse of what is going on in the company--and key areas where
something could go wrong."
..."ERM is a real excellent opportunity for anyone who is a risk professional to jump in there and expand what they are doing." "
- http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Fahrenthold_Pete_-466044.aspx
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Anna Haynes Posted 12:41 pm
15 Sep 2009
against clean energy while incredibly avoiding any mention of one
little detail: money."Just an FYI, though, I do see a reference to oil's $$ in para 8 -" And they are facing an opposition with tycoon money and a gift for political stagecraft."(Perhaps it was edited after this post was written, perhaps not)
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