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 2. News>
 3. Big Oil>



An aerial view of the Phillips 66 oil refinery in Linden, New Jersey is seen on
May 11, 2022.

(Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)


CAMPAIGNERS TO HOUSE DEMS: NOT GIVING BIG OIL DOCUMENTS TO THE SENATE WOULD BE
AN 'EPIC FAILURE'

"OBVIOUSLY THE INCOMING REPUBLICAN HOUSE MAJORITY THAT WILL CONTROL THE
DOCUMENTS AS OF JANUARY 3 HAS NO INTEREST IN CONTINUING TO INVESTIGATE BIG OIL."


Jake Johnson
Dec 28, 2022




A House committee that has spent more than a year investigating the fossil fuel
industry's climate disinformation efforts has reportedly decided not to hand the
subpoenaed documents it compiled over to the Senate, a reversal that would
likely spell the end of the probe as industry-friendly Republicans take over the
chamber.

Investigative journalist Amy Westervelt reported for The Intercept over the
weekend that Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who helped lead the Big Oil probe,
previously vowed to "release all the subpoenaed documents to the Senate to
continue the investigation or at least finish reviewing them for pertinent
information—a task the committee has not had the time or staff resources to
complete."

"But the decision to release the documents has since been reversed, according to
Khanna's press secretary," Westervelt wrote. "The committee also decided not to
send letters to the Department of Justice or the White House requesting that the
investigation continue, Khanna staffers said."

The decision by the House panel, which is headed by Rep. Carolyn Maloney
(D-N.Y.), drew an outraged response from climate campaigners and watchdogs. Over
the course of its investigation, the committee released more than 1,000 pages of
documents, including internal emails and company memos further showing that the
oil and gas industry is misleading the public about its role in the climate
crisis and its supposed efforts to cut down on planet-warming emissions.

"The investigations into Big Oil will continue no matter what, but it should be
a no-brainer for Rep. Maloney and Oversight Democrats to forward the Big Oil
Files to the Senate and DOJ—or release them all now! The public deserves to know
the truth," tweeted Jamie Henn, the director of Fossil Free Media.

The committee has until January 2 to turn over the documents to the Senate,
which will be narrowly controlled by Democrats in the new session. On January 3,
Republicans hostile to climate action and allied with oil and gas interests will
take over the House.

"Committee members cannot allow their groundbreaking work to expose Big Oil's
role in fueling the climate crisis to end by giving control of thousands of
unexamined documents to Big Oil's defenders."

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee
and a recipient of fossil fuel industry donations, has openly bashed the panel's
Big Oil investigation, calling its latest report on the industry's climate lies
"a partisan show designed to demonize America's energy producers and force
radical Green New Deal policies on Americans."

Comer pledged to "return the Oversight Committee to its primary mission of
conducting oversight over the Biden administration."


Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said in a
statement Tuesday that "refusing to share the committee's findings with the
Senate and others who can continue to investigate Big Oil's climate deception
would be an epic failure by House Democrats."

"Over the last 15 months, the Oversight Committee has unearthed crucial new
evidence that Big Oil companies continue to fuel the climate crisis and lie
about it. But members have also made clear that they possess potentially
thousands more documents that they have not had time to analyze," said Wiles.
"Obviously the incoming Republican House majority that will control the
documents as of January 3 has no interest in continuing to investigate Big Oil."

"Committee members cannot allow their groundbreaking work to expose Big Oil's
role in fueling the climate crisis to end by giving control of thousands of
unexamined documents to Big Oil's defenders," Wiles added. "Instead of fumbling
the ball on the goal line, Democrats on the committee need to use their final
days in the majority to pass along their documents and findings to colleagues in
the Senate, officials at the Justice Department, and any other agency that has
the power to hold Big Oil accountable."

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to
republish and share widely.

Jake Johnson
Jake Johnson is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
Full Bio >
US HouseDemocratic PartyRo KhannaFossil FuelsCarolyn Maloneyhouse oversight
committeeCorporate PowerBig Oil


A House committee that has spent more than a year investigating the fossil fuel
industry's climate disinformation efforts has reportedly decided not to hand the
subpoenaed documents it compiled over to the Senate, a reversal that would
likely spell the end of the probe as industry-friendly Republicans take over the
chamber.

Investigative journalist Amy Westervelt reported for The Intercept over the
weekend that Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who helped lead the Big Oil probe,
previously vowed to "release all the subpoenaed documents to the Senate to
continue the investigation or at least finish reviewing them for pertinent
information—a task the committee has not had the time or staff resources to
complete."

"But the decision to release the documents has since been reversed, according to
Khanna's press secretary," Westervelt wrote. "The committee also decided not to
send letters to the Department of Justice or the White House requesting that the
investigation continue, Khanna staffers said."

The decision by the House panel, which is headed by Rep. Carolyn Maloney
(D-N.Y.), drew an outraged response from climate campaigners and watchdogs. Over
the course of its investigation, the committee released more than 1,000 pages of
documents, including internal emails and company memos further showing that the
oil and gas industry is misleading the public about its role in the climate
crisis and its supposed efforts to cut down on planet-warming emissions.

"The investigations into Big Oil will continue no matter what, but it should be
a no-brainer for Rep. Maloney and Oversight Democrats to forward the Big Oil
Files to the Senate and DOJ—or release them all now! The public deserves to know
the truth," tweeted Jamie Henn, the director of Fossil Free Media.

The committee has until January 2 to turn over the documents to the Senate,
which will be narrowly controlled by Democrats in the new session. On January 3,
Republicans hostile to climate action and allied with oil and gas interests will
take over the House.

"Committee members cannot allow their groundbreaking work to expose Big Oil's
role in fueling the climate crisis to end by giving control of thousands of
unexamined documents to Big Oil's defenders."

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee
and a recipient of fossil fuel industry donations, has openly bashed the panel's
Big Oil investigation, calling its latest report on the industry's climate lies
"a partisan show designed to demonize America's energy producers and force
radical Green New Deal policies on Americans."

Comer pledged to "return the Oversight Committee to its primary mission of
conducting oversight over the Biden administration."


Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said in a
statement Tuesday that "refusing to share the committee's findings with the
Senate and others who can continue to investigate Big Oil's climate deception
would be an epic failure by House Democrats."

"Over the last 15 months, the Oversight Committee has unearthed crucial new
evidence that Big Oil companies continue to fuel the climate crisis and lie
about it. But members have also made clear that they possess potentially
thousands more documents that they have not had time to analyze," said Wiles.
"Obviously the incoming Republican House majority that will control the
documents as of January 3 has no interest in continuing to investigate Big Oil."

"Committee members cannot allow their groundbreaking work to expose Big Oil's
role in fueling the climate crisis to end by giving control of thousands of
unexamined documents to Big Oil's defenders," Wiles added. "Instead of fumbling
the ball on the goal line, Democrats on the committee need to use their final
days in the majority to pass along their documents and findings to colleagues in
the Senate, officials at the Justice Department, and any other agency that has
the power to hold Big Oil accountable."

From Your Site Articles
 * Report Exposes Decades of 'Big Oil Lies' as Industry Faces Congressional
   Scrutiny ›
 * Big Oil PR Firms a No-Show at House Hearing on Climate Disinformation ›
 * New Evidence Released by Congress Further Confirms Big Oil's Climate
   Disinformation ›

Related Articles Around the Web
 * Fueling the Climate Crisis: Examining Big Oil's Prices, Profits, and ... ›
 * Big Oil has engaged in a long-running climate disinformation ... ›


Jake Johnson
Jake Johnson is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
Full Bio >


A House committee that has spent more than a year investigating the fossil fuel
industry's climate disinformation efforts has reportedly decided not to hand the
subpoenaed documents it compiled over to the Senate, a reversal that would
likely spell the end of the probe as industry-friendly Republicans take over the
chamber.

Investigative journalist Amy Westervelt reported for The Intercept over the
weekend that Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who helped lead the Big Oil probe,
previously vowed to "release all the subpoenaed documents to the Senate to
continue the investigation or at least finish reviewing them for pertinent
information—a task the committee has not had the time or staff resources to
complete."

"But the decision to release the documents has since been reversed, according to
Khanna's press secretary," Westervelt wrote. "The committee also decided not to
send letters to the Department of Justice or the White House requesting that the
investigation continue, Khanna staffers said."

The decision by the House panel, which is headed by Rep. Carolyn Maloney
(D-N.Y.), drew an outraged response from climate campaigners and watchdogs. Over
the course of its investigation, the committee released more than 1,000 pages of
documents, including internal emails and company memos further showing that the
oil and gas industry is misleading the public about its role in the climate
crisis and its supposed efforts to cut down on planet-warming emissions.

"The investigations into Big Oil will continue no matter what, but it should be
a no-brainer for Rep. Maloney and Oversight Democrats to forward the Big Oil
Files to the Senate and DOJ—or release them all now! The public deserves to know
the truth," tweeted Jamie Henn, the director of Fossil Free Media.

The committee has until January 2 to turn over the documents to the Senate,
which will be narrowly controlled by Democrats in the new session. On January 3,
Republicans hostile to climate action and allied with oil and gas interests will
take over the House.

"Committee members cannot allow their groundbreaking work to expose Big Oil's
role in fueling the climate crisis to end by giving control of thousands of
unexamined documents to Big Oil's defenders."

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee
and a recipient of fossil fuel industry donations, has openly bashed the panel's
Big Oil investigation, calling its latest report on the industry's climate lies
"a partisan show designed to demonize America's energy producers and force
radical Green New Deal policies on Americans."

Comer pledged to "return the Oversight Committee to its primary mission of
conducting oversight over the Biden administration."


Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said in a
statement Tuesday that "refusing to share the committee's findings with the
Senate and others who can continue to investigate Big Oil's climate deception
would be an epic failure by House Democrats."

"Over the last 15 months, the Oversight Committee has unearthed crucial new
evidence that Big Oil companies continue to fuel the climate crisis and lie
about it. But members have also made clear that they possess potentially
thousands more documents that they have not had time to analyze," said Wiles.
"Obviously the incoming Republican House majority that will control the
documents as of January 3 has no interest in continuing to investigate Big Oil."

"Committee members cannot allow their groundbreaking work to expose Big Oil's
role in fueling the climate crisis to end by giving control of thousands of
unexamined documents to Big Oil's defenders," Wiles added. "Instead of fumbling
the ball on the goal line, Democrats on the committee need to use their final
days in the majority to pass along their documents and findings to colleagues in
the Senate, officials at the Justice Department, and any other agency that has
the power to hold Big Oil accountable."

From Your Site Articles
 * Report Exposes Decades of 'Big Oil Lies' as Industry Faces Congressional
   Scrutiny ›
 * Big Oil PR Firms a No-Show at House Hearing on Climate Disinformation ›
 * New Evidence Released by Congress Further Confirms Big Oil's Climate
   Disinformation ›

Related Articles Around the Web
 * Fueling the Climate Crisis: Examining Big Oil's Prices, Profits, and ... ›
 * Big Oil has engaged in a long-running climate disinformation ... ›

US HouseDemocratic PartyRo KhannaFossil FuelsCarolyn Maloneyhouse oversight
committeeCorporate PowerBig Oil

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LATEST NEWS


REGULATORS LAUNCH PROBE TO 'DIG DEEPER' INTO WINTER STORM ELLIOTT POWER OUTAGES

"THIS LATEST STORM SHOWS, YET AGAIN, THAT FOSSIL FUELS AREN'T ESPECIALLY
RELIABLE IN EXTREME WEATHER," NOTED ONE CLIMATE REPORTER. "SIMPLY ADDING MORE
GAS OR COAL TO THE GRID WON'T PREVENT BLACKOUTS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN IN THE
FUTURE."


Jessica Corbett
Dec 28, 2022

On the heels of yet another extreme weather event showcasing the inadequacy of
the United States' fossil fuel-dependent energy system, U.S. and North American
regulators on Wednesday announced an investigation into power outages during
Winter Storm Elliott.


The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), North American Electric
Reliability Corporation (NERC), and the latter's six regional entities "will
open a joint inquiry into the operations of the bulk power system during the
extreme winter weather conditions," the regulators revealed in a statement.

More than 1.5 million homes and businesses across the United States lost power
last week amid intense rain, snow, wind, and cold temperatures, according to
Reuters.



"This storm underscores the increasing frequency of significant extreme weather
events... and underscores the need for the electric sector to change its
planning scenarios and preparations for extreme events."

"The effects of Winter Storm Elliott demonstrate yet again that our bulk power
system is critical to public safety and health," stressed FERC Chairman Richard
Glick. "The joint inquiry with NERC we are announcing today will allow us to dig
deeper into exactly what happened so we can further protect the reliability of
the grid."

Referring to the rotating Arctic air that typically circles the North Pole but
occasionally shifts south, bringing bitter cold temperatures to swaths of the
United States, as the nation endured in recent days, NERC president and CEO Jim
Robb said that "there will be multiple lessons learned from last week's polar
vortex that will inform future winter preparations."

"In addition to the load shedding in Tennessee and the Carolinas, multiple
energy emergencies were declared and new demand records were set across the
continent. And this was in the early weeks of a projected 'mild' winter," he
continued. "This storm underscores the increasing frequency of significant
extreme weather events (the fifth major winter event in the last 11 years) and
underscores the need for the electric sector to change its planning scenarios
and preparations for extreme events."

As Vox's Rebecca Leber detailed Tuesday:

> In many states, utilities and grid operators only narrowly averted greater
> disaster by asking customers to conserve their energy or prepare for rolling
> blackouts (when a utility voluntarily but temporarily shuts down electrical
> power to avoid the entire system shutting down). Some of the largest
> operators, including Tennessee Valley Authority, Duke Energy, and National
> Grid used rolling blackouts throughout the weekend. Texas also barely got
> through the emergency. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Energy permitted the
> state to ignore environmental emissions standards to keep the power on.
> [...]
> It wasn't that the country didn't have enough gas to go around to meet the
> high demand. There was plenty of gas, but the infrastructure proved vulnerable
> to the extreme weather. Enough wells and pipes were frozen or broken to bring
> the grid to its brink.

"This latest storm shows, yet again, that fossil fuels aren't especially
reliable in extreme weather," the climate reporter wrote. "Yet so much of energy
politics focuses purely on supply—the mining and extraction, and how much oil,
gas, and coal is in reserve. It's often taken for granted that this supply will
always be accessible."

"In the meantime, we've failed to build more important infrastructure throughout
our energy system; more energy storage, distributed power generation,
interconnections across the major power grids, redundancy, and demand response
are all needed," she concluded. "Simply adding more gas or coal to the grid
won't prevent blackouts from happening again in the future."

> \u201cUnreliable fossil fuels failed the US again last week as "natural" gas
> pipelines froze (again again).\n\nMy neighbors who heat with gas had 200%
> increases in monthly bills because of shortages caused by a fossil-dictator
> who invaded Ukraine.\n\nhttps://t.co/m8w56oUm4W\u201d
> — Scott Denning (@Scott Denning) 1672191718

The nation's latest deadly winter storm—dozens are confirmed dead and the
National Guard is going door-to-door in hard-hit Buffalo, New York, to search
for victims—comes amid worldwide demands from climate scientists and activists
to rapidly transition from planet-heating fossil fuels to renewable energy, and
improve grid resiliency in the process.

On a global scale, campaigners condemned COP27 last month as "another terrible
failure" because the climate conference's final agreement failed to call for
phasing out all fossil fuels, which experts warn is necessary to meet the
temperature goals of the 2015 Paris accord—and as Common Dreams reported last
week, blowing past those targets, even temporarily, could have dire consequences
for all life on Earth.


While U.S. President Joe Biden has pledged to cut the country's greenhouse gas
emissions in half, relative to 2005, by the end of the decade, much of his
climate agenda has been limited by Congress over the past two years and the
incoming Republican-majority House of Representatives is expected to further
obstruct the Democratic Party's priorities—including and especially a transition
to a cleaner and more reliable energy system.

Despite the recent blackouts, Angelena Bohman—who received a doctoral degree
from Carnegie Mellon University after researching grid resilience—told The Hill
's Rachel Frazin that the current U.S. system is "fairly resilient," noting that
utilites make improvements in anticipation of extreme weather.

However, improvements also take time, Bohman added, explaining that "many
utilities own hundreds of thousands of miles of transmission and distribution
lines and if you're going to upgrade any section of line, you're doing very
small amounts every year and you only have so much money to do that."

> \u201cPower outages have hit so many parts of the U.S. lately amid extreme
> weather, showing that our system isn't prepared for this
> storm\n\nhttps://t.co/FrrWX3WjiN\u201d
> — Rachel Frazin (@Rachel Frazin) 1672239200

Frazin highlighted that one way to better protect transmission lines is to put
them underground, but that can be expensive. Bohman told her that though a
provision of last year's bipartisan infrastructure legislation directing $5
billion to improving grid resilience is a "great start," in terms of what is
needed on a national scale, it is a "drop in the bucket."

While policymakers at all levels of U.S. government fail to address fossil
fuel-driven global temperature rise and its devastating effects, such as extreme
weather, to the degree that scientists say is needed, and people across the
country and beyond suffer as a result, "fossil fuel industry barons win no
matter what," Thom Hartmann wrote Monday.

As the author and progressive radio host put it:


> They all know accountability for corporate executive decision-making is
> nonexistent in today's America, corrupted as we have been by five
> conservatives on the Supreme Court legalizing political bribery. And as long
> as the GOP has anything to say about it, their hundreds of billions in
> taxpayer-funded subsidies will never end.
> When extreme weather hits the U.S.—be it extreme heat in the summer or extreme
> cold in the winter—more of their product is burned to create electricity and
> heating/cooling, earning them more profits.

"When weather is 'normal,'" Hartmann added, "they just go back to bribing
climate science deniers and Republican politicians across the nation to block
any action to hold them accountable for 60 years of intentional lies."

Keep Reading
News
Extreme Weather



CITING 'STUNNING' LIES, NY DA LAUNCHES PROBE OF REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN-ELECT
SANTOS

"THE RESIDENTS OF NASSAU COUNTY AND OTHER PARTS OF THE 3RD DISTRICT MUST HAVE AN
HONEST AND ACCOUNTABLE REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS," SAID A LOCAL REPUBLICAN
DISTRICT ATTORNEY. "NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW AND IF A CRIME WAS COMMITTED IN THIS
COUNTY, WE WILL PROSECUTE IT."


Brett Wilkins
Dec 28, 2022

A Long Island prosecutor on Wednesday launched an investigation into George
Santos after the Republican congressman-elect admitted to telling a litany of
campaign trail lies about his religious background, education, and employment
history.

"The numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-Elect
Santos are nothing short of stunning," Nassau County District Attorney Anne T.
Donnelly, a Republican, said in a statement.



"The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the 3rd District must have an
honest and accountable representative in Congress," she added. "No one is above
the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it."

Santos, 34, is scheduled to be sworn in next week when the House reconvenes—and
Republicans take control—after holiday recess. The Associated Press reports he
could face investigations by the House Ethics Committee and the Justice
Department.

As the AP notes:


> The Republican has admitted to lying about having Jewish ancestry, a Wall
> Street pedigree, and a college degree, but he has yet to address other
> lingering questions—including the source of what appears to be a quickly
> amassed fortune despite recent financial problems, including evictions and
> owing thousands in back rent.

Santos' lies have drawn scorn from both sides of the political aisle, with Rep.
Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) tweeting in response to the new probe that "Santos will
be gone by the end of his term or well before then. He should RESIGN."

> \u201cThe background noise surrounding George Santos must not distract from
> the central issue. \n\nThe $700,000 dollar question: Where did all the money
> come from?\u201d
> — Ritchie Torres (@Ritchie Torres) 1672245752

On Tuesday, outgoing Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) tweeted that aspiring house
speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) needs Santos' backing.

"That is why his lies to get elected will be forgiven," Kinzinger opined. "He
literally lied to win. FRAUD."

Keep Reading
News
george santos



US JUDGE SAYS JAN. 6 PANEL REPORT SUGGESTS TRUMP URGED SUPPORTERS TO BREAK LAW

"TRUMP'S INSTRUCTION IN HIS SPEECH TO, FOR INSTANCE, 'FIGHT LIKE HELL'... COULD
SIGNAL TO PROTESTERS THAT ENTERING THE CAPITOL AND STOPPING THE CERTIFICATION
WOULD BE UNLAWFUL."


Brett Wilkins
Dec 28, 2022

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a January 6 defendant's claim that
then-President Donald Trump's exhortation to march to the U.S. Capitol on the
day of the deadly right-wing attack should shield the alleged insurrectionist
from legal responsibility for his actions.

Alex Sheppard, 22, of Ohio is charged with six federal offenses in connection
with the Capitol attack. He has pleaded not guilty to all of them, arguing that
he believed Trump ordered patriots to enter the Capitol and "fight like hell" to
"stop the steal."



Shortly before right-wing rioters invaded the Capitol last year and briefly
delayed the certification of the 2020 presidential election results, Trump
delivered a rally speech reiterating his "Big Lie" that the contest was stolen
from him.

U.S. District Court Judge John Bates, an appointee of former President George W.
Bush, wrote Wednesday that "Trump's words only encourage those at the rally to
march to the Capitol—nothing more—and do not address legality at all."

"Although his express words only mention walking down Pennsylvania Avenue to the
Capitol, one might conclude that the context implies that he was urging
protestors to do something more, perhaps to enter the Capitol building and stop
the [election's] certification," he added. "But even if so, there is simply no
indication that Trump informed the protestors that doing so would be legal."

Citing the final report from the House Select Committee to Investigate the
January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Bates elaborated in a footnote
that "Trump's instruction in his speech to, for instance, 'fight like hell'...
could signal to protesters that entering the Capitol and stopping the
certification would be unlawful."

> \u201cJudge John Bates, a GWB appointee, used the committee's findings to swat
> down a Jan. 6 defendant's contention that Trump's rally rhetoric led him to
> think he was permitted to go into the Capitol.\n\nTrump's "fight like hell"
> language did the opposite, Bates ruled.\u201d
> — Kyle Cheney (@Kyle Cheney) 1672258471

Bates added that "the conclusions reached here—that even if protesters believed
they were following orders, they were not misled about the legality of their
actions and thus fall outside the scope of any public authority defense—is
consistent with the select committee's findings."

Politico's Kyle Cheney wrote:

> Bates' ruling is the first to reckon with the select committee's finding that
> Trump violated at least four federal laws in his crusade to subvert the 2020
> election. And it is an early window into how the judiciary might interpret the
> unusual findings of criminal violations by a congressional committee.
> A slew of January 6 defendants have sought to argue that Trump somehow blessed
> their decision to breach the Capitol, saying they were misled into believing
> their actions were legal. Though Trump has no power to permit others to
> violate federal laws, many in the crowd might have viewed his instructions as
> legal permission, they've argued.

"Those defenses have largely failed in courts," Cheney added, "and the one jury
to hear that claim—in the case of Dustin Thompson—rejected it, finding Thompson
guilty on all charges."

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