Message From the Editor

Across the globe, fossil fuel interests have been especially active lobbying for financial help and deregulation in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from UK think tank InfluenceMap. 

But the requests from oil and gas firms vary widely, depending on whether they’re a big oil and gas corporation like ExxonMobil or a smaller, deeply indebted shale company, and that’s spurring industry infighting, reports Nick Cunningham.

As Justin Mikulka writes, Exxon may use its size and political clout to crush the bailout hopes for struggling frackers and then swoop in to pick up the pieces. And considering the sorry financial state of the shale industry, there may be a lot of pieces.

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

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

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Under Cover of Pandemic, Fossil Fuel Interests Unleash Lobbying Frenzy

— By Dana Drugmand (7 min. read) —

Thousands of Americans are dying, millions have filed for unemployment, and frontline health care workers are risking their lives as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the U.S. In the midst of this crisis, the fossil fuel industry, particularly the oil and gas sector, has been actively seeking both financial relief and deregulation or dismantling of environmental protection measures.

A new briefing by U.K.-based think tank InfluenceMap summarizes this fossil fuel lobbying during the time of the pandemic, pointing to specific examples of how fossil fuel interests around the world are using the cover of the coronavirus crisis to advance their agenda.

Industry Infighting as Oil and Gas Seek Government Help

— By Nick Cunningham (7 min. read) —

The $2 trillion stimulus bill that the U.S. Congress rushed to pass in order to respond to millions of job losses provided a once-in-a-generation opportunity for corporate lobbying. The oil and gas industry has been no exception, but some of the proposed initiatives are dividing the industry.

Crude oil prices went into a freefall in early March following the one-two punch of an OPEC price war and the meltdown of financial markets because of the coronavirus pandemic. In less than two weeks, prices of the oil benchmark Western Texas Intermediate (WTI) dropped from $45 to the low-$20s per barrel, plunging the global oil industry into a state of deep crisis. A tenth of global oil supply could become uneconomic to produce.

Exxon May Crush Bailout Hopes for Suffering Fracking Companies

— By Justin Mikulka (10 min. read) —

The Washington Post reported March 10 that the Trump administration was considering some type of financial help for the failing U.S. shale oil and gas industry, “as industry officials close to the administration clamor for help.” Those officials — billionaire shale CEO Harold Hamm was likely among them — seemed desperate for government assistance because, as DeSmog has documented, their deeply indebted businesses have lost billions of dollars during the fracking boom. Even before the recent oil price war and COVID-19 pandemic, these companies could hardly stay afloat, making cries for some type of corporate welfare likely unavoidable. 

But that's not the same message across the entire oil and gas industry.

The Oil War in the Permian May Not Have Any Winners

— By Justin Mikulka (9 min. read) —

At the same time a price war is raging in the global oil markets, a regional price war is playing out in the shale fields of Texas. The Texas oil war is between the major oil companies ExxonMobil and Chevron and the many independent shale oil producers.

In an unusual move this week, the CEOs of the shale oil companies Pioneer and Parsley sent a letter to the Texas Railroad Commission, asking the state oil and gas regulator to take an active role in limiting Texas oil production — a move Commissioner Ryan Sitton recently has endorsed.

‘No Time for Requirements’: Aviation Industry Lobbying Against Green Strings in Coronavirus Bailouts

— By Jocelyn Timperley (5 min. read) —

Aviation has been one of the sectors worst hit by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. With revenues expected to drop by 44 percent this year, many airlines will go bankrupt without government aid, airline trade body the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned.

Across the world, the industry is now asking for huge sums of government money to help it get through. IATA says $200 billion is needed globally. Many consider bailouts of some kind are essential to support those working in the airline industry and avoid throwing them into economic insecurity. 

Court Rules EPA Can't Keep Secret Key Model Used in Clean Car Rule Rollback

— By Dana Drugmand (3 min. read) —

A federal appeals court ruled April 1 that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had no basis to withhold one key part of a computer model used by the agency to develop its less stringent greenhouse gas emission standards for new vehicles. The ruling came just one day after EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a final rule rolling back clean car standards set under the Obama administration.

The new Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule, which requires vehicle fuel economy improvements of 1.5 percent annually rather than 5 percent, is expected to increase air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and consumer fuel spending.

Trump Admin Weakens Clean Car Standards Despite Its Analyses Showing Rule Favors Big Oil Over Health, Climate

— By Dana Drugmand (9 min. read) —

The Trump administration today announced the final rule that rolls back Obama-era clean vehicle standards, a move that, according to the government’s own analyses, is expected to benefit the oil industry and harm consumers, public health, and the climate.

Experts also warn it will result in litigation and global market inconsistency to the detriment of automakers.

Oil Refineries Face Shutdowns as Demand Collapses

— By Nick Cunningham (6 min. read) —

A growing number of refineries around the world are either curtailing operations or shutting down entirely as the oil market collapses. 

Oil prices have fallen precipitously to their lowest levels in nearly two decades. Typically, falling oil prices are a good thing for refiners because they buy crude oil on the cheap and process it into gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel, selling those products at higher prices. The end consumer also tends to consume more when fuel is less expensive. As a result, the profit margin for refiners tends to widen when crude oil becomes oversupplied.

$3 Billion 'Bailout' for Oil Producers Dropped From Economic Stimulus Package

— By Dana Drugmand (6 min. read) —

Bucking President Trump’s directive for buying oil to fill up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), Senate Democrats last week nixed what they say was a $3 billion bailout for oil producers from the coronavirus economic stimulus bill that passed the Senate on March 25. An earlier version of the $2 trillion relief bill favored by Senate Republicans allocated $3 billion for filling up the SPR to aid a struggling oil sector.

With oil prices crashing, Trump announced a few weeks ago he planned to have the government purchase “large quantities” of crude oil to add to the emergency stockpile. “We’re going to fill it right up to the top,” he said. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created in the 1970s to reduce disruptions in oil supply and it currently holds 635 million barrels of crude.

Chamber of Commerce’s Energy Members Silent After Group Opposed Using Wartime Law to Produce Medical Supplies

— By Dave Anderson, Energy and Policy Institute (6 min. read) —

Major electric utilities and fossil fuel producers that are members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce remained silent when asked whether they supported the lobbying group’s controversial opposition to using the Defense Production Act to address a shortage of medical supplies and equipment crucial to fighting the coronavirus. 

Some of those same energy companies, and their trade associations, have for years lobbied for the use of the Defense Production Act to bail out struggling coal plants.

Will Pandemic Relief Become a Petroleum Industry Slush Fund?

— By Amy Westervelt, with additional reporting from Emily Gertz, Drilled News (14 min. read) —

Recently, President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin both made clear their intentions to include some sort of bailout for the oil and gas industry as part of the federal government’s emergency economic response to the coronavirus pandemic.

At this writing Congress isn’t playing along, at least not directly. Republican-supported provisions to pump $3 billion in oil purchases into the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (to fill it “right up to the top,” as Trump termed it in mid-March) were struck from the $2 trillion emergency stimulus bill that the Senate passed late Wednesday night, and just hours before that vote, reports Politico, they vanished from the House’s companion bill as well. Neither bill targets the fossil fuel industry by name for any other bailout, either.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Scaife Family Foundations

The Scaife Family Foundations are made up of the Sarah Mellon Scaife Foundation, the Carthage Foundation, the Allegheny Foundation, and the Scaife Family Foundation. The foundations, financed by the Mellon industrial, oil, and banking fortune, were managed originally by Sarah Mellon Scaife. The foundations are a major funder of conservative causes and organizations, including those disputing the scientific consensus on climate change, such as the Heartland Institute, the Hoover Institution, the Heritage Foundation, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.

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