Exclusive: A senior ExxonMobil lobbyist has been captured on camera claiming that the oil giant is waging a secret war on climate change legislation. The covert recordings filmed by Greenpeace UK @UE lift the lid on the secretive world of US oil lobbying. channel4.com/news/revealed-…
Lobbyist Keith McCoy claims the company “aggressively” fought science to deny climate change action in order to maximise profit and shareholder return; and lobbied key senators to remove measures from President Biden’s $2tn Infrastructure bill, something Exxon Mobile dispute.
The ExxonMobil executive likens the lobbying of Congress members to how fishermen target fish, putting out “bait” and reeling them in on issues like carbon tax, electric vehicles, chemicals, taxation and infrastructure.
Mr McCoy has liaised with US Congress for the last eight years. He names 11 US senators that were his targets for “fishing”. We have found that all except two senators he listed have declared legal financial contributions from ExxonMobil.
He claims ExxonMobil uses third parties to mask its interests from public awareness and referred to trade bodies like the American Petroleum Institute as "whipping boys" in order to avoid public scrutiny on Capitol Hill.
ExxonMobil say they "have supported climate science for decades" and accuse Greenpeace of "waging a multi-decade campaign" against their company and industry. They insist their "lobbying fully complies with all laws and are publicly disclosed on a quarterly basis."
ExxonMobil say that they exercise their right to engage in lobbying in the United States at both the Federal and State levels to advocate their positions on issues that affect the corporation and the energy industry.
Watch the full report from @alextomo and @NanettevdLaan, and all of our coverage of the Emergency on Planet Earth, at our new website: channel4.com/climate 
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