SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Complete with Threats and Astroturf, Big Oil Preps for Election Year Push
Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, issued a vailed but unmistakable warning to President Obama on Wednesday during remarks given at the oil and gas industry's State of American Energy event in Washington.
Jan 05, 2012
Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, issued a vailed but unmistakable warning to President Obama on Wednesday during remarks given at the oil and gas industry's State of American Energy event in Washington.
"Clearly, the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest," Gerard said during remarks. "A determination to decide anything less than that I believe will have huge political consequences." Such statements made observers at Greenpeace wonder if Gerard would prefer to be annointed "the President of United States of Energy" and not just another oil lobbyist.
The ultimate "national interest" determination, in fact, will be made by the Obama in consultation with the State Department, which has repeatedly said it needs more time to determine the environmental impacts of the proposed pipeline that will carry tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada through the US heartland - including over the Oglalla aquifer - to refineries on the Gulf coast.
The oil industry event served as a launching pad for API's new public relations campaign - Vote4Energy. Though Gerard insisted the campaign was "not a campaign, but a conversation" it would, by its very nature, act as the mouthpiece for the oil and gas industry as it seeks to "educate" politicians and the public. "Through information distributed through our state networks, through grass roots outreach to millions of voters, and through conversations" the campaign would seek to pressure politicians and candidates in 2012.
Though Gerard's contention was that the industry's focus would be to promote "an electorate that is educated on energy" environmental groups were quick to push back against the kind of "education" the industry has long been known for. Greenpeace voiced pronounced skepticism:
Jack Gerard may want to trick Americans into his Vote 4 Energy nonsense, but he demonstrates the same predictable rhetoric that oil companies always use to make themselves sound somewhat responsible, when everyone knows they aren't--see our profiles for ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, all multi-billion dollar corporations, making record profits even in a global recession, and looking for more tax breaks and handouts. If you are watching election coverage on CNN and spot API's astroturf ad, don't buy the lie. Vote for yourself, not oil executives.
Greenpeace used the opportunity of the API event to launch a campaign of their own, Vote-4-Energy.org, to both mock and counter the industry's public relations push, and released the following video to make their point:
"The American Petroleum Institute (API) is Big Oil's top lobbying firm," contends Greenpeace, "using a $200 million budget to push dirty energy incentives and tax handouts for oil companies into our national laws. They have been caught in the past staging rallies for their Energy Citizens astroturf campaign, as revealed by Greenpeace in a confidential API memo to oil executives. Why do they fake citizen support? Probably because Americans overwhelmingly support clean energy over dirty oil development.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, issued a vailed but unmistakable warning to President Obama on Wednesday during remarks given at the oil and gas industry's State of American Energy event in Washington.
"Clearly, the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest," Gerard said during remarks. "A determination to decide anything less than that I believe will have huge political consequences." Such statements made observers at Greenpeace wonder if Gerard would prefer to be annointed "the President of United States of Energy" and not just another oil lobbyist.
The ultimate "national interest" determination, in fact, will be made by the Obama in consultation with the State Department, which has repeatedly said it needs more time to determine the environmental impacts of the proposed pipeline that will carry tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada through the US heartland - including over the Oglalla aquifer - to refineries on the Gulf coast.
The oil industry event served as a launching pad for API's new public relations campaign - Vote4Energy. Though Gerard insisted the campaign was "not a campaign, but a conversation" it would, by its very nature, act as the mouthpiece for the oil and gas industry as it seeks to "educate" politicians and the public. "Through information distributed through our state networks, through grass roots outreach to millions of voters, and through conversations" the campaign would seek to pressure politicians and candidates in 2012.
Though Gerard's contention was that the industry's focus would be to promote "an electorate that is educated on energy" environmental groups were quick to push back against the kind of "education" the industry has long been known for. Greenpeace voiced pronounced skepticism:
Jack Gerard may want to trick Americans into his Vote 4 Energy nonsense, but he demonstrates the same predictable rhetoric that oil companies always use to make themselves sound somewhat responsible, when everyone knows they aren't--see our profiles for ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, all multi-billion dollar corporations, making record profits even in a global recession, and looking for more tax breaks and handouts. If you are watching election coverage on CNN and spot API's astroturf ad, don't buy the lie. Vote for yourself, not oil executives.
Greenpeace used the opportunity of the API event to launch a campaign of their own, Vote-4-Energy.org, to both mock and counter the industry's public relations push, and released the following video to make their point:
"The American Petroleum Institute (API) is Big Oil's top lobbying firm," contends Greenpeace, "using a $200 million budget to push dirty energy incentives and tax handouts for oil companies into our national laws. They have been caught in the past staging rallies for their Energy Citizens astroturf campaign, as revealed by Greenpeace in a confidential API memo to oil executives. Why do they fake citizen support? Probably because Americans overwhelmingly support clean energy over dirty oil development.
Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, issued a vailed but unmistakable warning to President Obama on Wednesday during remarks given at the oil and gas industry's State of American Energy event in Washington.
"Clearly, the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest," Gerard said during remarks. "A determination to decide anything less than that I believe will have huge political consequences." Such statements made observers at Greenpeace wonder if Gerard would prefer to be annointed "the President of United States of Energy" and not just another oil lobbyist.
The ultimate "national interest" determination, in fact, will be made by the Obama in consultation with the State Department, which has repeatedly said it needs more time to determine the environmental impacts of the proposed pipeline that will carry tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada through the US heartland - including over the Oglalla aquifer - to refineries on the Gulf coast.
The oil industry event served as a launching pad for API's new public relations campaign - Vote4Energy. Though Gerard insisted the campaign was "not a campaign, but a conversation" it would, by its very nature, act as the mouthpiece for the oil and gas industry as it seeks to "educate" politicians and the public. "Through information distributed through our state networks, through grass roots outreach to millions of voters, and through conversations" the campaign would seek to pressure politicians and candidates in 2012.
Though Gerard's contention was that the industry's focus would be to promote "an electorate that is educated on energy" environmental groups were quick to push back against the kind of "education" the industry has long been known for. Greenpeace voiced pronounced skepticism:
Jack Gerard may want to trick Americans into his Vote 4 Energy nonsense, but he demonstrates the same predictable rhetoric that oil companies always use to make themselves sound somewhat responsible, when everyone knows they aren't--see our profiles for ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, all multi-billion dollar corporations, making record profits even in a global recession, and looking for more tax breaks and handouts. If you are watching election coverage on CNN and spot API's astroturf ad, don't buy the lie. Vote for yourself, not oil executives.
Greenpeace used the opportunity of the API event to launch a campaign of their own, Vote-4-Energy.org, to both mock and counter the industry's public relations push, and released the following video to make their point:
"The American Petroleum Institute (API) is Big Oil's top lobbying firm," contends Greenpeace, "using a $200 million budget to push dirty energy incentives and tax handouts for oil companies into our national laws. They have been caught in the past staging rallies for their Energy Citizens astroturf campaign, as revealed by Greenpeace in a confidential API memo to oil executives. Why do they fake citizen support? Probably because Americans overwhelmingly support clean energy over dirty oil development.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.