Top Democrats To Attend Oil Lobby Propaganda Events During National Convention

Posted by Brad Johnson Sat, 23 Jul 2016 12:39:00 GMT

Politico, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post are hosting events during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, one of the organizations called out by Senate Democrats earlier this month for “perpetrating a sprawling web of misdirection and disinformation to block action on climate change.”

The American Petroleum Institute is a notorious front group for ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and other climate polluters. The organization has long played a key role in the industry’s web of denial, as Sen. Dick Durbin noted on the Senate floor. Durbin read from a 1998 API memo explaining the oil industry’s plan to systematically deny climate science: “Victory would be achieved when uncertainty about the science would be part of the public perception.”

With the paid collusion of Politico and The Atlantic, API is still blowing smoke into the eyes of the public. They are promoting their civilization-threatening Vote4Energy “voter education project,” which calls for an “all-of-the-above energy strategy ” with “increased production of oil and natural gas,” denying the urgent scientific warnings about increased greenhouse pollution.

Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and the Democratic National Platform are all calling for a Department of Justice investigation of the fossil-fuel industry for “corporate fraud” and “misleading shareholders and the public on the scientific reality of climate change.”

Democrats – including representatives of the Hillary Clinton campaign – appear to be giving the “web of denial” social license with their participation in Big Oil propaganda events during the Democratic National Convention.

The participants in the “Vote4Energy” Atlantic (“Striking A Balance”) and Politico (“Energy and the Election”) events focused on energy policy include:

  • Gov. John Hickenlooper (CO)
  • Gov. Jay Inslee (WA)
  • Rep. Jerry McNerney (CA-9)
  • Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
  • Rep. Gene Green (TX-29)
  • Rep. Dave Loebsack (IA-02)
  • Trevor Houser, Energy Advisor, Hillary Clinton campaign
  • Heather Zichal, former White House climate advisor

Planned participants in the other “Vote4Oil”-sponsored events during the week include:

  • Sen. Chris Coons (DE)
  • Rep. Joe Crowley (NY-14)
  • Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (NM-03)
  • Rep. Xavier Becerra (CA-34)
  • John Podesta, chair, Hillary Clinton campaign
  • Neera Tanden, President and CEO, Center for American Progress
  • Ruy Teixeira, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
  • And other Democratic advisors and former top officials

It is a troubling state of affairs that the journalists of the Atlantic and Politico are accepting payment from dangerous propagandists. It is even worse that Democrats who recognize the seriousness of the climate emergency and the crisis of fossil-fuel influence and deception are rolling in Big OIl’s muck.

Climate Hawks Vote has launched the following petition to Democrats attending the DNC:

“Pledge not to participate in any event during the 2016 Democratic National Convention sponsored by the climate-denier group American Petroleum Institute.”