Author Topic: Fossil Fuel Skulldugggery (Read 4167 times)

AGelbert · « **Reply #150 on:** March 17, 2018, 02:06:09 pm »

Agelbert NOTE: The following article is excellent. It provides evidence of the stubborn, as well as stupid, internal combustion engine worshipping position of most, if not ALL, US gas guzzler manufacturers. The article exposes the breathtaking hypocrisy of lobbying the Trump Tool of the fossil fuel industry for lower fuel efficiency standards while claiming to "plan" to manufacture and market millions of EVs abroad.

The fossil fuelers 🦖 have always used greenwashing PR to hide their continued support of the polluting profit over people and planet status quo.

Another example of ongoing greenwashing by these serial liars who profit from fossil fuels, not mentioned in this article, is the announcement by Statoil (the Norwegian Oil & Gas Giant) to change their name to Equinor using the rather threadbare justification of recent (but in comparison to oil & gas, token) investments in wind power.

I included the recent comments on the US polluting car manufacturers' hypocrisy article because they are even better than the article.

Automakers Tout Overseas EV Investments 😇, While Lobbying For Lower Fuel Standards In US 😈

March 17th, 2018 by Guest Contributor

Originally published on Nexus Media.

By Owen Agnew

SNIPPET:

In 2009, President Obama, flanked by auto executives in the White House Rose Garden, announced new fuel efficiency standards for automobiles. The new standards, which came on the heels of the auto industry bailout, had the support of carmakers. Dave McCurdy, then-president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an industry trade group, said in a statement that “what’s significant about the announcement is it launches a new beginning, an era of cooperation.”

Now, the Auto Alliance 😈 is lobbying the Trump 🦀 administration

🦖 to reevaluate

the standards and delay the timeline for reaching future targets — even as automakers develop new electric cars to be sold overseas.

Full article:
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/03/17/automakers-tout-overseas-ev-investments-lobbying-lower-fuel-standards-us/

EXCELLENT COMMENTS!

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Steve_S • 6 hours ago
"push for regulations that would bring the United States in line with Europe and China“

LMAO seriously, under Trump it will NEVER HAPPEN ! His belligerent disdain for everyone aside from the US is palpable just like how he believes that anyone making less than 1 million a year is a "Deplorable" and they are but chattel to me manipulated.

You can be certain that the Big-3 will again need bailouts and will have their hands out and fingers dipping into the public wallet because they sat on the sidelines in their own Home Market. I hope that their attempts in Europe & China actually fail and ultimately shoves them out to the fringes. Not because I want to hurt "people" working for these fossilized companies but because this is what these companies deserve for their ongoing part in gassing the world. Their duplicity should be the cause of their demise.

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Harry Johnson • 5 hours ago
Automakers need to prepare for their cigarette moment. Selling products harmful to people's health and the environment can no longer be morally justified. The LA area has seen harmful ozone levels rise over the last two years with 145 alert days. Burning bans are routinely enacted around the country on smoggy days, why should that exclude burning gas and diesel?

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BigWu Harry Johnson • 2 hours ago
Excellent post and interesting idea re extending burn bans to fuels!

If owners were banned from burning fuel nearly 1/3 of the time in car-loving LA, surely that would induce VERY rapid electrification of the fleet.

Furthermore, such a burn ban makes more sense IMO than year-round bans being proposed by some cities. It keeps it directly tied to health, thus avoiding silly flat earther and magical thinking counterarguments.

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exdent11 • 5 hours ago
U.S. car manufacturer executives have short memories. They got caught with excess inventory of gas guzzlers in 2008 and it is going to happen again. Some tech companies are going to produce affordable,low maintenance SUV and light truck electric platforms with superior performance and the American companies will be left behind.

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Fred exdent11 • 4 hours ago
Electric technology innovation will either be their savior or their killer. At this moment, it appears that FCA is a goner, and Ford and GM will end up being about 1/3 the size of today. The Asian and European makers have the same day of reckoning coming too, regardless of today's stance on fuel economy.

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Martin exdent11 • 4 hours ago
Yes, just look what happened in Germany. The German post office wanted EV's, was told they could not be provided, so they build them themselves and are selling them as well.

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Steve_S Martin • 4 hours ago
Maybe German Post could start it's own EV Company with partnerships with parts makers... Could be a great income source for the Post Office & Government too ! The German PO is still a Government operation right ?

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George Danchev Steve_S • 30 minutes ago
A small portion is owned by the government.

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Fred • 5 hours ago
Who cares if they relax fuel economy standards? The whole system is a mess anyway, especially in the US but even in Europe too, because various commercial vehicles get exempted or various sliding scales. Electric technology is preparing sweep the market due to the raw economics and raw performance, rendering all of these rules irrelevant anyway. Technology innovation and the free-market economics have proven to be a far more powerful a force than quotas etc in the fields of solar and wind generation; the economics of coal are killing coal, not quotas and restrictions for example. I'm optimistic that technology will quickly wipe out the combustion engine for ground transport, so none of this really matters.

Do we want to do something that will work and make a difference? Then apply fuel economy metrics and standards that will have a huge impact, then buildings should all be measured and get a performance rating for "mpg", like some European countries have begun to do. Every building, whether residential or commercial, should have a required energy performance evaluation at the time of construction, resale, or rental, with a roadmap to cover the entire inventory over several years. This area remains completely opaque to society and consumes vast amounts of hydrocarbons to heat and cool.

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Tony Reyes Fred • 41 minutes ago
Exactly my thoughts.

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Matt • 3 hours ago
So I guess Tom Stricker point is we need a massive raise in the fuel tax. Say increase $0.10/month for next 3 years. The would shape the demand better MPG vehicles so people will want to buy them. And we would not need to raise corp milage standards. Money raised can go to bridge repair, we are short at least $100B for that right now. Oh and the Highway Trust Fund is currently insolvent. We get a bite into the back long can move to improve mass transit. Once above $1/gal half the monthly raise can go to the state road fund. They can use it for their road costs, or mass transit, or EV infrastructure, or reduced their gas tax if they are hard headed.

PS: Yes a better plan would be $0.50 now and $0.05/month, but congress has refused for years to even talk about an increase. They just keep decreasing number of repairs and inspections.

PPS: Don't want to hear s h i t about it would hurt he poor. The poor are hurt much more but other regressive taxes. And since they don't own several large SUVs they are less impacted. We do some many mean and hurt things in this country and then say we can't fix it because it might hurt the poor. Instead let get off our collect asses and address the income inequality in the country. And saying we don't have to because Jesus said there would "aways be poor" is ....

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Fred Matt • 3 hours ago
This has certainly been the obvious technical and economic answer since the 1970s. Even a revenue-neutral gas tax would have helped greatly. I'm good at engineering and economics. Terrible at governing humans and politics, however and I don't see how this could ever fly.

Meanwhile, over in the fields of technical innovation, electric powertrains are going to decimate combustion ground transport due to superior economics and performance.

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steveb944 • an hour ago
And that's why the only American car I'll consider is Tesla, well the only car in general.

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Bugz • 44 minutes ago
End the 20 billion a year tax incentives for Oil and coal serving essentially as subsidies to the industry and let's see if it even holds up to what people would be required to pay at that point. Then I'd be all for removing any standards, but this will never occur because the forces of the global petrol dollar are shaking in their boots at the thought of losing their established and entrenched stranglehold on the global economies.

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sjc_1 Bugz • 18 minutes ago
If oil companies had to pay the real costs of oil and not get depletion allowances, they would operate more ethically. It is a co dependence that has gone on for more than 100 years.

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sjc_1 • 20 minutes ago
Sell a few thousand EVs in China while they 😈 sell a few million trucks and SUVs in the U.S.

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Ken Cova • 19 minutes ago
“Automakers Tout Overseas EV Investments, While Lobbying For Lower Fuel Standards In US”

Good reporting. It’s this sort of crap that gives Capitalism a bad name.

This is just one more example of why — as a people — we Americans need to be setting the boundaries and guardrails for the corporations, and not the other way around. The companies and their lobbyists need to be shoved back into their own lane, so they can concentrate on doing their businessy things, and so the rest of us can get on with running the place as we’re supposed to be doing.

The irony is that if the business community would just focus on actually doing business instead of trying to run our entire society they’d still manage to make oodles of cash. Having sensible guardrails to limit the damage that companies can do to people and places does nothing to inhibit their opportunity to make a buck.

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https://cleantechnica.com/2018/03/17/automakers-tout-overseas-ev-investments-lobbying-lower-fuel-standards-us/

AGelbert · « **Reply #151 on:** March 17, 2018, 06:20:08 pm »

Black Ministers In Virginia Tell Koch Brothers 👹 😈To Shove Their Petrodollars

March 17th, 2018 by Steve Hanley

SNIPPET:

I got slapped around a bit last week for a story condemning the Koch brothers that used a word in the title some found offensive. If anyone wonders why my Irish ire gets inflamed by these two charlatans, perhaps this story will explain why they may be the most dangerous individuals in America today and why, in the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, they deserve to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

A Deliberate Attack On The Poor

No two people on the planet have done more to seize control of the levers of power than Charles 🦕 and David Koch 🦖 . They, not Donald Trump, have plunged America into a dystopian era where poor people are treated as trash to be wiped from the face of the Earth while the wealthy — who are predominantly white males — are given extravagant tax breaks for no other reason than they have the “correct” skin color.

Make no mistake — racism is at the root of much of what the Koch brothers do. They are behind the drive to gerrymander state voting districts so the political power of blacks and Latinos is diminished. They are the primary architects of the movement to deny poor people access to polling places. And, recently, one of their despicable front organizations by the name of Fueling US Forward was heavily involved in trying to get black churches in Virginia to support the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which will transmit natural gas from West Virginia to eastern Virginia and the rest of the Atlantic seaboard.

Full truth filled article:

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/03/17/black-ministers-virginia-tell-koch-brothers-shove-petrodollars/

The Fossil Fuelers 🦖 DID THE Clean Energy Inventions suppressing, Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME, but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks 🦀, they are trying to AVOID DOING THE TIME or PAYING THE FINE! Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!

AGelbert · « **Reply #152 on:** March 23, 2018, 02:25:12 pm »

Union of Concerned Scientists

March 23, 2018

Uncovered 🕵️: proof of automakers' climate denial

Automakers 😈 are Manufacturing Climate Denial

While touting their environmentally friendly image to consumers, automakers are letting their lobbyists go way off script and use cherry-picked and disreputable studies to question the impacts of climate change and air pollution.

Auto companies want their consumers to think they've cleaned up their act. Toyota commercials show ice figure skaters crying about climate change, and Ford publicly supports the Paris Climate Agreement.

So why are the automakers letting their trade association spread blatant mistruths?

The Auto Alliance, which represents most major global auto companies, recently sent a letter to government regulators that attempts to cast doubt on climate science, the impacts of global warming, and the negative health effects of air pollution. Their goal is to weaken the federal vehicle efficiency standards that UCS supporters like you helped pass.

In the letter, they reference a jumble of cherry-picked and discredited studies in their attempt to sideline science. This tactic of spreading misinformation is nothing new, automakers used the same methods in their past campaigns against seat belts and airbags. But this is the first time in 20 years that they've taken such a public anti-science stance.

Tell Ford and Toyota that they can't let their trade association spread blatantly fake science while their car commercials tout their green cred.

AGelbert · « **Reply #153 on:** March 23, 2018, 05:53:54 pm »

Agelbert NOTE: Must view video for those who wish to understand how corporations in general, and the Fossil Fuel Industry Fascists

in particular, used the Citizens United Travesty of a Supreme Fascist Court Decison to LEGALLY BRIBE the Republicans to Deny Climate Change. The devastating effect of Citizens United on Climate Policy has, without a doubt, accelerated the timetable of Catastraphic Climate Change damage 🔥 💧🌊 🌪that will increasingly make life difficult to impossible on this planet.

https://youtu.be/SNr0XcoJHsc

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, "Captured: The Corporate Infiltration 💣 Of American Democracy"

Politics and Prose

Published on Mar 9, 2017

http://www.politics-prose.com/book/97...

In Captured, U.S. Senator and former federal prosecutor Sheldon Whitehouse offers an eye-opening take on what corporate influence looks like today from the Senate Floor, adding a first-hand perspective to Jane Mayer's Dark Money.

Americans know something is wrong in their government. Senator Whitehouse combines history, legal scholarship, and personal experiences to provide the first hands-on, comprehensive explanation of what's gone wrong, exposing multiple avenues through which our government has been infiltrated and disabled by corporate powers.

Captured reveals an original oversight by the Founders, and shows how and why corporate power has exploited that vulnerability: to strike fear in elected representatives who don't "get right" by threatening million-dollar "dark money" election attacks (a threat more effective and less expensive than the actual attack); to stack the judiciary--even the Supreme Court--in "business-friendly" ways; to "capture" the administrative agencies meant to regulate corporate behavior; to undermine the civil jury, the Constitution's last bastion for ordinary citizens; and to create a corporate "alternate reality" on public health and safety issues like climate change.

Captured shows that in this centuries-long struggle between corporate power and individual liberty, we can and must take our American government back into our own hands.

Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online. Visit them on the web at http://www.politics-prose.com/

Produced by Tom Warren

AGelbert · « **Reply #154 on:** March 30, 2018, 10:45:04 pm »

Judge Rejects Exxon's Attempt to Shut Down Climate Fraud Investigations

The federal judge called Exxon's claim that its free speech rights were being violated by the state investigations 'a wild stretch of logic.'

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29032018/exxon-climate-fraud-investigations-ruling-federal-judge-caproni-new-york-schneiderman-massachusetts-healey

AGelbert · « **Reply #155 on:** April 03, 2018, 07:13:57 pm »

Make Nexus Hot News part of your morning: click here to subscribe.

Pruitt’s Not-So-Prudent Pad 💵 🎩 Poses Problems

We’ll be frank: Scott Pruitt 😈 has tired us out this week. From his pricey tastes in travel to his (suspiciously) budget preferences for DC housing, we’ve been treated to some invaluable insights into how Pruitt is taking advantage of his time and position in Washington. Let’s recap what we’ve learned since just last week (!) on Pruitt’s curious choices for crash pads.

First, ABC News reported last week that Pruitt stayed in a Capitol Hill condo co-owned by the wife of a top energy lobbyist for his first six months in DC. After initially refusing to disclose how much Pruitt was paying for the pad, the EPA reported that Pruitt paid $50 per night, but only on nights he stayed at the condo.

It then emerged in a second ABC story that Pruitt’s daughter also stayed at the condo, despite statements from the EPA that Pruitt paid for a single bedroom. Vicki Hart, wife of energy lobbyist J. Steven Hart and co-owner of the condo, was also apparently unaware of the situation. “The rental agreement was with Scott Pruitt,” she told ABC. “If other people were using the bedroom or the living quarters, I was never told, and I never gave him permission to do that.”

In our favorite turn events, ABC released a third story over the weekend. Apparently Pruitt’s security detail broke down the condo’s front door after they weren’t able to reach him by phone. Turns out, Pruitt....was napping (super relatable). The EPA then refunded the condo owners for the cost of the false rescue attempt--which, by the way, was still less expensive than Ryan Zinke’s door.

A key takeaway from this scandal (that we’d love to try applying to our next round of apartment-hunting): apparently, if your landlord is an energy lobbyist, you can get a great deal on your rent. According to an analysis from the Center for American Progress, Pruitt’s $50 per night fee is less than one-fourth of the going rate for similar digs, and other apartments in the building have gone for as much as $5000 per month.

And it’s not like he was living in a boring neighborhood--Pruitt’s address is the hip place to be if you’re a GOP booster. The Daily Beast reported Monday that the downstairs of Pruitt’s townhouse served as a popular hotspot for lawmakers, hosting fundraisers for at least three members of Congress while Pruitt was crashing upstairs. While the EPA says Pruitt did not attend any of these events in an official capacity, and ethics laws don’t prohibit him from attending fundraisers in his spare time, we can only imagine the chummy cocktail chatter we may have had with the parties downstairs.

An ethics official at the EPA issued a memo a day after the initial ABC report clearing Pruitt of any wrongdoing with regards to federal ethics rules. Unfortunately for the agency, they may want to take another edit at this memo after the New York Times reported yesterday that in March, the EPA signed off on a pipeline project lobbied for by the husband of Pruitt’s landlord. (Also on J. Steven Hart’s company’s docket: lobbying on behalf of Oklahoma Gas to repeal the Clean Power Plan.)

Environmental groups were quick to call foul on Pruitt’s living situation last week, and they weren’t the only ones. More than 15 members of Congress (Grijalva, Lee, Sarbanes, Lieu, Brown, Quigley, Adams, Blumenauer, Price, Coleman, Schakowsky, Kennedy, Rush, Castor, Lowenthal and Beyer, in case you were wondering) have called for Pruitt to resign via Twitter. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also weighed in during ABC’s This Week, saying “I don’t know how you survive this one.” Christie, who probably qualifies as an expert on scandal at this point, added that Pruitt “never should’ve been there in the first place,” referring to his post as EPA administrator.

An administration official reportedly told POLITICO last week that the White House “stands behind” Pruitt, but recent history has shown how quickly their tune can change--especially if the boss is upset. If these ethical concerns continue, the administration may have no choice but to show Pruitt the (rebuilt) door.

AGelbert · « **Reply #156 on:** April 07, 2018, 06:32:44 pm »

Quote

In case your permanent state of infuriation was starting to wane, here’s some more evidence that the oil companies knew about the dangers of climate change long before the rest of us did, and that they financed climate denialism despite what they knew long before the rest of us. From Inside Climate News:

They show that as the company pondered its responsibility to act, Shell's scientists urged it to heed the early warnings, even if, as they said, it might take until the 2000s for the mounting evidence to prove greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were causing unnatural climate change. "With the very long time scales involved, it would be tempting for society to wait until then before doing anything," company researchers wrote in a 1988 report based on studies completed in 1986. "The potential implications for the world are, however, so large that policy options need to be considered much earlier. And the energy industry needs to consider how it should play its part." Otherwise, a team of Shell experts said, "it could be too late to take effective countermeasures to reduce the effects or even to stabilize the situation.

The parallels to the way the tobacco industry used to operate are becoming very hard to ignore.

The scientists told the truth. The profit over people and planet Shell corporate board of directors did what they have always done about "externalized" costs.

Quote

The parallels to the way the tobacco industry used to operate are becoming very hard to ignore.

Yep. VERY, VERY IMPOSSIBLY HARD TO IGNORE.

The challenges of an observant person in a brainwashed society.

AGelbert · « **Reply #157 on:** April 11, 2018, 09:46:43 pm »

#ShellKnew: Green Group Sues Oil Giant Over Climate 🔥
Impact

Internal documents show the oil giant has known for decades that fossil fuel activities would lead to catastrophic climate change, and that it deliberately mislead the public. Friends of the Earth Netherlands says it will take Shell to court if it doesn't do more to cut its climate impact. We speak to campaign leader Freek Bersch

https://youtu.be/WneSJCeiO0U

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=21557

AGelbert · « **Reply #158 on:** April 20, 2018, 02:19:22 pm »

EcoWatch

Record Number of Lawmakers Sign Resolution Calling for Pruitt's 🦖 Resignation

By Lorraine Chow

Apr. 19, 2018 08:11AM EST

A group of 39 senators and 131 representatives signed a resolution calling for the "immediate resignation" of Scott Pruitt, the scandal-plagued U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator.

The document represents a record number of senators to formally demand a cabinet official to step down.

The resolution comes in the wake of Pruitt's growing list of controversies: his request for a $43,000 sound-proof phone booth violated federal law; his $50-a-night stay at a Capitol Hill condo owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist; his questionable use of taxpayer money for first-class and charter flights, as well as a 'round-the-clock security detail; and reports that he gave large pay raises to his closest aides.

That's not to mention Pruitt's continued efforts to dismantle the legacy of the very agency he heads.

Per the resolution, "The Agency is hemorrhaging staff and experts needed to protect the health, safety, and livelihood of millions of people of the United States, with more than 700 employees of the Agency having left or been forced out of the Agency during his tenure as Administrator."

"By delaying the effective date of regulations, easing enforcement of existing regulations, and delaying implementation of new regulations, Administrator Pruitt is helping polluters at the expense of the health, safety, and livelihood of millions of people of the United States," it adds.

No Republicans added their name to the document, even though Republican Reps. Elise Stefanik (NY), Carlos Curbelo (FL) and Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (FL.) have previously called for Pruitt's resignation or firing.

The effort was led by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and Representative Kathy Castor (D-FL).

"During his time in office, Pruitt has waged all-out war on the bedrock protections that keep our air and water clean, prevent toxic chemicals from contaminating our communities, and safeguard the health of our kids and families," Udall said. "He has done lasting damage to public health and safety—gutting the EPA's core mission—all to benefit his campaign donors and grease the wheels for his big polluter friends."

It's not just politicians who are calling for Pruitt's ouster. More than 30 environmental and civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth, took out full-page newspaper ads on Wednesday in The New York Times, the New York Post and Pruitt's home-state paper, The Oklahoman, The Hill reported.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump 🦀 has praised Pruitt—who has carried out the administration's deregulatory agenda—for "doing a great job." 😈

Trump is reportedly fond of his EPA chief, even though John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, has urged the president to let Pruitt go.

"No one other than the president has the authority to hire and fire," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier this month. "The president feels that the administrator has done a good job at EPA."

She said the White House is conducting an internal investigation into Pruitt's conduct.

https://www.ecowatch.com/scott-pruitt-resignation-congress-2561438310.html

RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB

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EPA administrator Scott Pruitt is slowly strangling his agency - Vox ›

Quote

Ray Mathis · University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Who do people think he's talking to in his soundproof booth? What do they think he's talking about? Why does it need to keep what he says so secret from everyone else in the EPA? Isn't it possible that he's engaging in RICO violations? I think the Justice Department should be investigating possible violations. And if the predicted 100K extra unnecessary deaths due to increases in pollution come to pass. he should definitely be prosecuted.

Arnie McGill
Pruitt's a crook, pure and simple.

AGelbert · « **Reply #159 on:** April 26, 2018, 07:12:53 pm »

Scott Pruitt 🦀 Is Killing Us 🤬

Thursday, April 26, 2018

By William Rivers Pitt, Truthout | Op-Ed

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/44286-scott-pruitt-is-killing-us

AGelbert · « **Reply #160 on:** April 26, 2018, 08:19:23 pm »

Make Nexus Hot News part of your morning: click here to subscribe.

April 26, 2018

Who’s 😈 🦕 🦖 Behind The Institute for Pension Fund Integrity?

Yesterday, Oil Change International’s Andy Rowell wrote about a mysterious new group advocating against pension divestment (h/t DeSmog). Rowell sorts through the few clues available on the group to connect the dots about who’s behind the campaign--and, unsurprisingly, his findings display a pattern all too familiar to those familiar with fossil-fueled front groups.

Rowell’s search was instigated by a piece in the trade publication Institutional Investor last week (headline: “New Pensions Group Says Forget About Climate Change”), which reported on a new report by the Institute for Pension Fund Integrity (IPFI). The purpose of this group, Institutional Investor explains, is to counter the divestment campaign that’s been fairly successfully calling on pensions to take their money out of fossil fuel companies, and instead have them focus only on returns.

The IPFI report’s author is Christopher Burnham, a former UN undersecretary and Connecticut state treasurer. Compared to the obvious oil shills that usually run these sorts of programs, Burnham’s resume looks almost credible. Of course, he also served as the chairman of a PR company, Cambridge Global Advisors and asan “energy investment banker,” according to Rowell--but neither of these positions offer an obvious red flag.

More concerning than Burnham’s background is that contact information listed on the group’s website changed earlier this month, from pointing to Burnham to directing users to contact Fred Wollenberg of the advertising company Bergman Group. Bergman doesn’t seem to be too tightly linked to the oil industry (though the group does produce daily illustrations for the American Enterprise Institute’s 🦖 magazines).

Wollenberg himself, however, has worked with Exxon as well as DCI group, an organization whose astroturfing Bloomberg has exposed. While Rowell stresses that these links could just be a coincidence, it’s worth remembering DCI is also the group that ran the fake news blog TechCentral Station back before fake news was cool, and funded an amateur-looking Al Gore climate attack ad.

Rowell points to a recent Bloomberg story about how DCI registered the website for a different anti-divestment campaign, Protect our Pensions. Perhaps that’s just a coincidence, too.

So is Wollenberg the man in the middle, working on behalf of DCI and its funders to set up this other group seeking to protect pensions from divestment? Someone should certainly try and shine a light on the situation.

There’s little reason to insist on investing in fossil fuels, even if you believe an investor’s only concern should be returns. Because for years now, it is increasingly true that divested portfolios will out-perform their dirty competitors, in part because good environmental and social governance practices prove profitable.

So if divesting isn’t going to reduce returns, what excuse could IPFI possibly have for defending fossil fuels? If it’s just that they’re funded by the industry, well then that’s no different than a pencil-maker advocating for pen-shuns.

AGelbert · « **Reply #161 on:** April 26, 2018, 09:58:14 pm »

April 25, 2018

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's 'Days Are Numbered' for Ethics Violations

The ethics violations of Scott Pruitt keep mounting and now he has become too toxic for even the White House, says Todd Paglia, executive director of Stand Earth

https://youtu.be/wlqJqGD8Z0U

Todd Paglia is the Executive Director of Stand.earth, an environmental advocacy organization that focuses on protecting forests.

Before joining Stand.earth, Todd was an attorney for Ralph Nader, focusing on consumer protection issues such as environmental purchasing by governmental agencies to spur alternative markets, enforcement of antitrust laws, corporate welfare issues and corporate accountability.

He received his Bachelor of Arts from Binghamton University, SUNY, his J.D. from the New England School of Law, and his LL.M. from George Washington University, National Law Center, in Environmental Law and Policy.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=21657%27%20style=%27color:#000;

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