Message From the Editor

We are very excited to share that DeSmog recently won Best Specialist News Site at this year’s The Drum Online Media Awards! Of course, we couldn’t do any of this without our readers, whose loyalty and passion for combatting the climate crisis provides inspiration on a daily basis. So, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for reading.

Now to this week’s news… A new study on ExxonMobil by Naomi Oreskes and Geoffrey Supran finds that the oil major is repeating one particular word over and over in its environmental reports: “risk”. That tiny word is a sign of a massive change underway in how fossil fuel companies talk about climate change in places where it’s no longer considered credible to deny the science. As Oreskes and Supran write, ExxonMobil’s statements now subtly shift responsibility for climate change onto the shoulders of consumers, while avoiding the need to describe in detail the risks that are posed by climate change. Read more by Sharon Kelly here.

Meanwhile, in another report, Greenpeace finds an overlap in major corporations that are backing anti-pipeline and anti-voting laws. Greenpeace found that there are 44 state legislators around the country that have both sponsored at least one anti-voter bill and one anti-protest bill, evidence of the overlap between the crackdowns. The efforts to suppress the vote and criminalize protest are “both consistent with a contempt for democracy,” Charlie Cray, one of the authors of the report, told DeSmog. Nick Cunningham has the story.

And earlier this month, the EPA inspector general issued a report rebuking the agency for failing to protect fenceline communities in 19 metropolitan areas from chloroprene and ethylene oxide, toxic chemicals used in industrial processes. One of these communities is a low-income, African-American community in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, situated near the Denka Performance Elastomer plant in LaPlace. St. John holds the dubious distinction of being the only U.S. community exposed to both toxic chemicals cited in the EPA watchdog report. Julie Dermansky reports.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: editor@desmogblog.com.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Readers like you make it possible for DeSmog to hold accountable powerful people in industry and government. Even a $10 or $20 donation helps support DeSmog’s investigative journalism.

New Study Decodes ExxonMobil’s ‘Modern’ Climate Misinformation

— By Sharon Kelly (6 min. read) —

What’s the single word that fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil’s flagship environmental reports to investors and the public tie most closely to climate change and global warming?

According to newly published research from Harvard science historian Naomi Oreskes and Harvard research associate Geoffrey Supran, it’s a simple four-letter word, one that carries overtones not only of danger, but also — crucially — of uncertainty: risk.

Major Corporations Are Backing Politicians’ Anti-Voting, Anti-Protest Efforts Around the Country

— By Nick Cunningham (7 min. read) —

Since the start of the year, conservative lawmakers have promoted and enacted legislation in state capitols that seek to make it harder to vote. At the same time, state legislatures are passing laws to impose harsh punishments on public protests.

The dual efforts, aimed at subverting democracy, are also targeted to constrain the growing campaigns for racial and climate justice, and they have been aided by prominent corporations, according to a new report from Greenpeace.

Inspector General Directs EPA to Update Its Rules for Two Toxic Air Pollutants

— By Julie Dermansky (6 min. read) —

On May 6, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) inspector general issued a report rebuking the agency for failing to protect fenceline communities in 19 metropolitan areas from chloroprene and ethylene oxide, toxic chemicals used in industrial processes. The report directs the agency to review its rules, as required by the Clean Air Act, for both of these carcinogenic air pollutants, which newer scientific evidence has found raise the cancer risk for people living near facilities emitting them.

One of these communities is a low-income, African-American community in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, situated near the Denka Performance Elastomer plant in LaPlace. St. John holds the dubious distinction of being the only U.S. community exposed to both toxic chemicals cited in the EPA watchdog report.

‘Overwhelming’ Evidence Facebook is Failing to Tackle Climate Misinformation

— By Rich Collett-White (3 min. read) —

Facebook is “fuelling climate misinformation” through its failure to get to grips with misleading content, according to a new report that calls on companies to boycott the platform until significant action is taken.

Campaign group Stop Funding Heat, which produced the report, warns that the problem is likely to escalate in the coming months as the next major UN climate summit, COP26, approaches and wants to see action taken against “repeat offenders”.

Climate and Indigenous Protesters Across 4 Continents Pressure Banks to #DefundLine3

— By Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams (4 min. read) —

From fake oil spills in Washington, D.C. and New York City to a “people mural” in Seattle spelling out “Defund Line 3,” climate and Indigenous protesters in 50 U.S. cities and across seven other countries spanning four continents took to the streets on Friday for a day of action pushing 20 banks to ditch the controversial tar sands pipeline.

“Against the backdrop of rising climate chaos, the continued bankrolling of Line 3 and similar oil and gas infrastructure worldwide is fueling gross and systemic violations of human rights and Indigenous peoples’ rights at a global scale,” said Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for International Environmental Law.

Steve Koonin is a university professor and founding director of NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress. From 2009 to 2011, Koonin was Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy under President Barack Obama. Before working in government, Koonin spent five years (2004 to 2009) as Chief Scientist for oil giant BP plc where he helped to establish its Energy Biosciences Institute. From 1975 to 2006, he was a professor of theoretical physics at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and served as provost from 1995 to 2004. In 2019, Koonin was reportedly assisting the White House in creating a panel to advise President Donald Trump on climate change. The panel, to be led by CO2 proponent Will Happer, has been described as a “slapdash band of climate contrarians.”

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database.

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