A Well-Oiled Crowd Balks at Climate Fix

The New York Times has a surprisingly direct, no-hedging, expose of oil industry shenanigans designed to block climate change legislation. For once, it is crystal clear to readers what is going on -- the oil industry is rallying workers whose (understandable) immediate concerns do not extend beyond continuing to earn a living, to... preserving life on earth.

"Hard on the heels of the health care protests, another citizen movement seems to have sprung up, this one to oppose Washington's attempts to tackle climate change. But behind the scenes, an industry with much at stake -- Big Oil -- is pulling the strings. Hundreds of people packed a downtown theater here on Tuesday for a lunchtime rally that was as much a celebration of oil's traditional role in the Texas way of life as it was a political protest against Washington's energy policies, which many here fear will raise energy prices....

This was the first of a series of about 20 rallies planned for Southern and oil-producing states to organize resistance to proposed legislation that would set a limit on emissions of heat-trapping gases, requiring many companies to buy emission permits. Participants described the system as an energy tax that would undermine the economy of Houston, the nation's energy capital."

What we are seeing these days is the explosive growth of efforts by narrow interests to leverage whatever they can and to appeal to those who, unlike the wealthier shareholders and CEOs, really don't have the luxury of thinking beyond their next paycheck. It is not hard to imagine this country channeling, say, Italy, with the entire calendar coming to resemble a constant election campaign, and with the forces of reaction stoking the anxieties of whatever working-class allies they can muster.

The origins, motivations, and civic literacy of crowds is always at the core of good reporting about public events.

Comments

[Rhetticent]

Russ, do you begrudge those people whose livelihoods will be destroyed by Waxman? My state, like Texas, is dependent in many ways on the oil patch for jobs and tax revenue. Waxman will kill the small o&G companies to benefit foreign oil interests and speculators. Waxman makes no sense, espeically when we are floating on an ocean of natural gas that would not only make us energy independent, but would lower CO2 and particulate emissions while generating a tax stream that could be used to develop alternatives.

Those of you on the left with your knee-jerk responses to anything other than your pet projects will doom us to oil, coal and gasoline for decades unless you start studying the benefits of natural gas.

[MikeysAsylum]

I've been around the oil biz for 30 years as an owner in an offshore drilling rig and service provider. .No matter what cap and trade, enviros, politicians, traders or climate changers want to do to us, the petroleum industry won't die. Everything we use in life is made with petroleum. Even those signs the treehuggers use to display their rants. Most people do not know what goes on behind the scenes in the petroleum industry. Sure they are digging deeper to reach unexplored product, but you can be assured they are the hardest working innovators while dealing with a finite resource. The oil guys were in the energy business long before the alternatives, they know the tricks and with all those vehicles moving the nations, well, it ain't over yet. It will take more than someone on the hill to put a stop to our madness. You can argue about what the oil industry does or what it isn't doing for the environment but when you get down to it, what they do and how they do it remains a huge part of our economy. People jump the gun talking about stopping petroleum and the companies that provide it but that will not happen because we ALL depend on it for our needs.Yes, things are changing but as long as the industry develops new technology giving them the means to pick up the scraps burried deep in the ground, we'll be around for a while longer.

[Calinative]

All this talk of climate change based on the theory that global warming is caused by CO2.
What if it's caused by solar activity, and the rise in CO2 is the result and not the cause of warming?
Would the oil companies have a legitimate gripe?

[SonofLiberty1]

Dear God, not another person who knows NOTHING ABOUT SCIENCE..I GUESS YOU DIDN'T GET THE MEMO...

WE ARE IN A DEEP, DEEP SOLAR MINIMUM RIGHT NOW AND THERE IS GROWING EVIDENCE THAT WE MAY SEE A NOT MUCH HIGHER SOLAR MAXIMUM...

OR TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY...

WE MAY BE STARTING ANOTHER "LITTLE ICE AGE"

VENUS IS STILL HOT, YOU MIGHT WANT TO VACATION THERE.

IT IS

[noneIn2008]

How much will Goldman make on cap N TRADE? Read the bill, it is a traders delight.

[Poster99]

Hey Russ, why don't you do some more investigative work and follow the real money in climate change game. Wall Street stands to gain a market that will dwarf anything oil is doing. These are the people with real agenda- except they bribe and con politicians and well-meaning greenies. But, their profits will never be openly celebrated like those of Exxon Mobil. We might find out just how big their stake in climate change game is the next time they come for bail out money.
No wonder oil is fighting back any way they know how. Their business is being swindled away from them by unscrupulous bankers hungry for the next bubble.