Big Oil and the Billionaire Class Are Investing Extensively in Murdering the Future
By Jim Miller
In the last few weeks, we have been treated to yet another series of reports about the dire state of the planet. As one piece in the Guardian puts it, “Earth’s ‘vital signs’ are worse than at any time in human history, an international team of scientists has warned, meaning life on the planet is in peril.”
It is important to note that most scientists, while urgently raising the alarm, are careful to underline the fact that we can still make choices to avert the absolute worst outcomes from happening. In a Los Angeles Times story about a United Nations report warning that we are approaching multiple catastrophic climate change tipping points, a scientist explains that:
“Our report is not saying that we are doomed to cross these risk tipping points, but rather it’s supposed to empower us to see the paths that we have ahead of us, and to take steps toward a better future,” O’Connor said. “We are still driving the car. And we still have a choice.”
Hence, our problem is not that we don’t have the knowledge or ability to address the crisis, it is that powerful moneyed interests are hell bent on driving our metaphorical car into a ditch. In fact, the new House Speaker is a climate denialist and champion of the fossil fuel industry who will surely only offer aid and comfort to his plutocratic friends. No big surprise there, alas.
It is noteworthy, however, that amidst the fog of war in the Middle East and Ukraine, the fossil fuel industry has effectively dismissed the notion that alternative energy sources are the future and is betting on the continuation of the status quo, with ExxonMobil and Chevron spending tens of billions to buy up smaller oil companies. According to the New York Times,
Big oil companies are doubling down on drilling for oil and gas and processing it into fuels for use in engines, power plants and industrial machinery. And, with only a few exceptions, they are not spending much on alternatives like wind and solar power and electric-car batteries.
“They are putting their money where their mouths are,” said Larry Goldstein, director of special projects at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, a Washington nonprofit that specializes in oil, natural gas and petroleum products.
As Jeff D. Colgan argues about the ExxonMobil acquisition of Pioneer, Big Oil getting even bigger is a threat to democracy because it embodies a “corporate self-interest that’s detrimental to democracy and the global environment. This deal endangers the world, and it should be stopped.” Unfortunately, the Biden Administration has been sending mixed signals by both calling for more domestic production and marshalling in policies that aid the transition away from a carbon-based economy. Confronting the power of Big Oil is simply not on their agenda.
Meanwhile, fossil fuel companies are making Colgan’s point for him by pouring serious money into the campaign coffers of politicians who pass laws to quell protests against the oil industry. As the Guardian observes, “Fossil fuel companies have spent millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign donations to state lawmakers who sponsored anti-protest laws – which now shield about 60% of US gas and oil operations from protest and civil disobedience, according to a new report from Greenpeace USA.”
Investigative work by Documented shows that the folks at the Koch empire have their knives at the ready and are gearing up for Supreme Court cases that could gut the “regulatory state” and make policies that curb carbon emissions very difficult to enact:
The network has been working behind the scenes to bring cases before the court that, if successful, could undermine many of the core functionings of the US government. At least two of the biggest cases to be considered by the justices this term have been spurred by groups bankrolled and coordinated within the Koch universe . . .
Regulatory controls in their sights include environmental standards to combat pollution and the climate crisis, consumer protections against predatory lenders, and safeguards for workers’ rights. At stake is what the Strict Scrutiny podcast has called “the future of government as we know it”.
Of course, this is all part of the Koch empire’s long war against the power of ordinary citizens to use the government to check the power of corporations and the billionaire class. As I wrote about years ago in the San Diego Free Press, the goal of this stealth campaign to undermine American democracy is all about “saving capitalism from democracy, permanently.” It would be the bitterest of ironies if this longstanding goal of the billionaire right was accomplished quietly at home as we spent billions of US taxpayer money to fund wars abroad in the name of saving global democracy.
What is abundantly clear is that the fossil fuel industry and their political allies have no qualms about murdering the future in the service of their short-term profits. The question of the hour is whether any of our political leaders will rise to meet this existential threat sitting right in front of their faces.