Leaked: The Oil Lobby's Conspiracy to Kill Off California's Climate Law

[steve2470]

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-11-25/revealed-the-oil-lobbys-playbook-against-californias-climate-law?hootPostID=f9759c7b5a6cf106201ed9aac1b90765

You remember Fillmore. He’s the resident hippie of Radiator Springs in the Pixar blockbuster Cars. Much to the chagrin of his neighbor, Sarge the Army Jeep, Fillmore greets each new day with Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock rendition of A Star Spangled Banner—“respect the classics, man”—and is quick with a conspiracy theory about why biofuels never stood a chance at America’s gas pumps. Perfectly voiced by the late, great George Carlin, Fillmore has a slight paranoiac edge, as if his intake of marijuana may exceed what’s medically indicated.

Well, as they say, it’s not paranoia if they really are out to delay, rewrite, or kill off a meaningful effort to reduce the build-up of carbon in the Earth’s atmosphere. A Powerpoint (MSFT) deck now being circulated by climate activists—a copy of which was sent to Bloomberg Businessweek—suggests that there is a conspiracy. Or, if you prefer, a highly coordinated, multistate coalition that does not want California to succeed at moving off fossil fuels because that might set a nasty precedent for everyone else.



Created by the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), one of the most powerful oil and gas lobbies in the U.S., the slides and talking points comes from a Nov. 11 presentation to the Washington Research Council. The Powerpoint deck details a plan to throttle AB 32 (also known as the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006) and steps to thwart low carbon fuel standards (known as LCFS) in California, Oregon, and Washington State. Northwest Public Radio appears to have been the first to confirm the authenticity of the deck, which Bloomberg Businessweek did as well, with WSPA spokesman Tupper Hull.



Specifically, the deck from a presentation by WSPA President Catherine Reheis-Boyd lays out the construction of what environmentalists contend is an elaborate “astroturf campaign.” Groups with names such as Oregon Climate Change Campaign, Washington Consumers for Sound Fuel Policy, and AB 32 Implementation Group are made to look and sound like grassroots citizen-activists while promoting oil industry priorities and actually working against the implementation of AB 32.

[Octafish]

1. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

Reason some people doubt climate change is the propaganda Big Oil buys.

While un-Democratic in the extreme, it's like SCROTUS says, "Money Talks."

Thank you for the heads-up, steve2470. These are worse than Gangster Times.

[steve2470]

4. my pleasure Octafish (: nt

[steve2470]

2. bump nt

[BrotherIvan]

3. Chilling

These people will stop at nothing. And most people just see the ads and vote. Jesus, how can such depths of evil and greed be defeated?

[daredtowork]

5. Found this in the California group

Late kick in hope it gets seen. There is astroturf everywhere, isn't there, hmm?

[Wella]

6. Good find, Octafish.

Do you have a blog?

[Octafish]

7. This one's from the great DUer steve2740...

...one of his usual and excellent finds.

I've tried to put what I find into my journals on DU3 or DU2.

Thank you for the kind words. And a most hearty welcome to DU, Wella!

[steve2470]

8. thanks :) nt

[Wella]

9. Nicely done, Steve

I have noticed there is a backlash to the climate legislation in terms of "the gas tax" that is supposed to be coming in January. The usual suspects are gearing up. It's good to have this info.