12 Nov 2021 Giving In to the Greens Only Got Exxon More Grief

ExxonMobil, a major target of the environmentalist lobby, is now supporting carbon taxes and adherence to the Paris climate accord. But this about-face on policy has not earned it any respect from the greens.

This doesn’t surprise National Center Senior Fellow Bonner Cohen, Ph.D. In a RealClearEnergy report by Kevin Mooney, Bonner said:

ExxonMobil, along with the American Petroleum Institute (API), is deluding itself if it thinks that by supporting a price on carbon it will escape further regulation of its emissions and other so-called climate impacts. If the Biden Administration, congressional Democrats and green energy providers get their way, the oil and gas industry will get more taxes and more regulations.

In particular, the Climate Leadership Council (CLC) has been critical of ExxonMobil. Despite the energy company being a founding member of the group, CLC turned against ExxonMobil after a company lobbyist told an undercover green activist he felt carbon taxes were a “non-starter” issue. The lobbyist’s comments were denounced by ExxonMobil’s CEO, yet CLC still wants to suspend the company from the coalition.

The controversy failed to draw attention to the fact that carbon taxes and other climate-related regulation will raise consumer costs with a negligible effect on temperatures.

That’s why Bonner called this a political sham:

Under the guise of being a free-market or conservative voice on climate, the CLC is really little more than a Beltway arm of a ruling class that is intent upon expanding its control over the nation’s energy sector, with scant regard for the effect this will have on the livelihoods of ordinary people.

And the green lobby appears to have the upper hand. According to Mooney:

The pressure tactics applied against corporate from the environmental left appear to be having their desired impact.

The American Petroleum Institute, which supposedly advocates for the oil and gas industry, has also gotten into the act by constantly genuflecting before the idea of carbon taxes in the name of climate change.

Click here to read Mooney’s article in its entirety.