Love and marriage go together like oil companies and the Bush administration
Articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and more have put together several puzzle pieces linking the White House to Exxon Mobil and a disturbing image has emerged. ExxonMobil has been consistently influencing political decisions about global warming, and White House staff have engaged in alterations of scientific data.
New Job, Same Boss?
Philip Cooney, the White House chief of staff for the Council on Environmental Quality, has been hired by ExxonMobil. Or has he been working for them all along? Recent press coverage reveals that Cooney had been rewriting the facts in scientific government reports about global warming.
In its June 8 story, the New York Times reported, "In handwritten notes on drafts of several reports issued in 2002 and 2003, the official, Philip A. Cooney, removed or adjusted descriptions of climate research that government scientists and their supervisors, including some senior Bush administration officials, had already approved. In many cases, the changes appeared in the final reports."
Cooney resigned his White House position on June 10, just two days after the New York Times exposed his role in rewriting reports issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and other scientific agencies to downplay the effects of global warming. Cooney, who does not have a science background, had previously worked for the American Petroleum Institute as the "climate team leader."
"Mr. Cooney is the poster child for oil industry influence on this White House," said Kert Davies, Greenpeace research director. "Even now he is benefitting from the revolving door between the Bush administration and dirty energy companies."
Cooney's misdeeds go well beyond undermining the public's understanding of global warming by editing official scientific publications on global warming. Cooney has regularly enlisted the help of industry funded think tanks and public relations firms to help promote the Bush administration's line that global warming is still a theory. Greenpeace has uncovered a string of e-mail communications (read an example) between Cooney and industry funded global warming naysayers (primarily funded by ExxonMobil) dating back to 2001 showing a collaboration between the White House and the naysayers to run a communication strategy to support the White House position that knowledge of global warming, despite a wealth of scientific evidence, is still uncertain.
When it Rains, it Pours
As if the New York Times article wasn't damaging enough, other news sources have quickly followed suit - criticizing Cooney and Bush for their reprehensible behavior and adding more fuel to the fire. On June 14, the Wall Street Journal reported that, even among oil companies, ExxonMobil is becoming increasingly isolated for its refusal to recognize global warming as a serious threat and for its continuing campaign to stymie efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
On June 16, Bloomberg published a scathing article outlining Bush's extraordinary ability to dismiss global warming evidence as theories. Margaret Carlson, a columnist for Bloomberg writes, "Years from now, if we aren't all swimming to work, we may look back on Cooney's departure as the moment Bush had to give up his denial." We hope you're right, Margaret.