Senate examines role of ‘dark money’ in delaying climate action
The #Senate #budget #committee held a hearing on Wednesday morning to scrutinize the role of oil- and gas-linked “#dark #money” in delaying climate action – and tearing through local and federal budgets.
The hearing was led by #Senator #Sheldon #Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who has held 10 #climate #crisis-focused hearings since he took the helm of the budget committee this past February
Committee Democrats invited three witnesses. First to the stand was the Harvard history of science professor #Naomi #Oreskes. “Climate change is a market failure, and market failures require government action to address,” she testified.
Fossil fuel interests’ efforts to disrupt climate policy had come at great expense to the US, including not only financial costs, but also human suffering and lives lost, said Oreskes, who has written several books on oil industry misinformation.
#Christine #Arena, former public relations executive at the firm Edelman who now works in social impact film-making, and who was also invited by Senate Democrats, drew comparisons between the fossil fuel industry’s decades-long misinformation campaign and how the tobacco industry tried to cover up the harms of smoking.
“Just like the tobacco executives before them, [fossil fuel executives] characterize peer-reviewed science and investigative journalism that illustrates the extent of their deceptions as biased or inconclusive,” said Arena, who is now the founder of Generous Films.
#Richard #Painter, professor of corporate law at the University of Minnesota Law School who was chief White House ethics lawyer under George W Bush, was third to testify. A political independent, Painter said Americans should get on board with the push to end climate misinformation no matter where they fall on the political spectrum.
“This is not a partisan issue,” said Painter, who was also invited by Whitehouse. “This is about caring, and doing something about a grave threat to the human race.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/21/senate-budget-committee-dark-money-climate-action?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
